The New Rebellion Part 3

[colls]

Welcome to our third 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 29-41

The New Rebellion

1. What are your impressions of Smuggler's Run? Any thoughts on the characters who seem to have made it their home?

2. Kueller seems to have unleashed something in an ancient mask - or is Krueller the "something" that was unleashed? How does his brand of 'Sith-bent-on-galactic-domination' differ from Palpatine?

3. R2-D2 and C-3PO seem to be having an adventure of their own. How will they manage to escape the droid factory planet and will they manage to take Cole with them?

4. If this novel had been made into a movie, what sort of details would you be most interested to see on screen?


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 III of the book.

Comments

[colls]

1. I have gotten the impression that it really smells bad. I was disappointed but not at all surprised when some of the other smugglers turned on Han. Blue seemed to have had a conscience over it (if only a small one), but her involvement in trying to trap Han does leave a sour taste in my mouth. Then again, that could be just thinking of all all the foul-smelling mud and algae.

2. Am I reading too much into this mask thing? Or is Dorph (?) a former Jedi-student who somehow found this death mask that holds the "essence" of some long-dead conqueror? I'm thinking the combination of grief and anger over his family's death and the infusion of... *handwaves* whatever this mask is... dialed up the Dark Side in him.
I'm still not sure how he's killing people without damaging structures. Is it really just droid detonators? Wouldn't empty places show more damage?

3. I love a headstrong R2. I hope Cole survives. I have a feeling he will because R2 is there and he's the actual legit gorram hero of Star Wars. ;p

4. For someone who's not all that interested in space battles in books, I love Love LOVE them on screen. Which I realize is something that hasn't actually happened in the book (yet). Besides, I want to see this command bridge Wedge is waxing poetic about in the last chapter.

I think Smuggler's Run has the potential to look really interesting on screen. And while we've just gotten a glimpse of post-Imperial Coruscant in The Mandalorian season 3, it's left me wanting more. So I'd also like to see some of the Coruscant scenes including the Senate offices, but also the Organa-Solo household and the X-wing repair bays.

[barbiejedi]

2. Dolph, as in (a)Dolph. Who does mass murder with a Germanic pseudonym, in case we were worried he might be a good guy.
Is it really just droid detonators? Wouldn't empty places show more damage?
I was thinking the same thing. Droid detonators would neatly explain the Coruscant attack, and it would connect Brakiss to the scheme. I feel like there has to be something else that left Pyrdr so empty and clean, but I'm not sure what.

[colls]

I feel like there has to be something else that left Pyrdr so empty and clean, but I'm not sure what.
Exactly! I'm glad you seem to have sensed the same thing - I thought I might've missed something.

[barbiejedi]

Still can't stop thinking that Artoo stealing evidence from the scene of the senate bombing is ruining any kind of court case the New Republic might want to bring against the perpetrators of the bombing.

Also find it super hilarious that the existence of Leia's ship, the Alderaan, is referenced in only two stories in Legends ever-- this book, and the infamous Crystal Star. No other authors ever used it.

With the reveal in this week's section that Kueller is making this attacks via sabotaged droids, I wonder if he's also using droids to staff and run the three whole-ass Star Destroyers he's fielding against Wedge's little task force. Three Star Destroyers is a LOT-- Wedge even says in the narration: He had not expected this. A ragtag fleet of some sort, perhaps, cobbled together from various other ships. Or maybe even a home complement. But not Star Destroyers, nor so many. This Kueller had trained military personnel operating some of the most powerful ships in the galaxy. How had he come by all of this? And so quickly?

I was wondering how Brakiss was going to tie into the larger plot since he didn't seem to be the Vader to Kueller's Palpatine, but him running a droid factory both to get sabotaged droids into the hands of Kueller's enemies and provide staff for Kueller's fleet would make a lot of sense.

[colls]

I had the same thought about R2 stealing evidence. That or it'd implicate him as a droid with a bomb or a droid that plants bombs.
I think perhaps "evidence" isn't always a forensic strong suit in Star Wars tales? (LOL)

[brokenmnemonic]

1. I find it really odd that someone decided that the way to get 20-year-old Imperial equipment refurbished for sale was to transplant lots of sand and Jawas and a crawler to an asteroid in Smuggler's Run. Is that really cheaper than just... paying someone slightly more than the transplanted Jawas? I did like the recognition from Lando and Han that they aren't the people they were when the first went to Smuggler's Run, but I found Chewie being harassed by the other Wookie a bit uncomfortable. I felt like their former associates came off pretty badly though - so much so that I'm wondering if it was intentional, to cement the idea that our heroes true friends are the rebels they met along the way?

2. Is it just me, or does it feel as if the New Republic is being plagued by failed students of Luke? Or students that Luke failed? Although when I learned that Kueller was "Dolph", my first thought was "Lundgren??" I'm not clear if we're meant to believe that sabotaged explosive droids are how Kueller's killing people by the million, though. I'm also wondering if the death mask is meant to be one of the Sith-manufactured items that boosts their power, of the kind that's cropped up a few times in the comics. |I don't know why, but it seems as if the Jedi weren't into making force-amplifying or force-using items the way the Sith were.

3. Is it common for R2 and C3PO to head off on adventures without any kind of direction? The fact that R2 found evidence of droid-concealed explosives at the senate chamber blast site in minutes that no-one else seems to have found doesn't give me a lot of confidence in the investigation teams. I think we may be underestimating R2's determination, though - clearly the droids at this factory are dangerously in need of a Union.

4. Ever since Rogue One, I've wanted to see another Star Wars space battle featuring the original trilogy characters, but I'm also rather keeping my fingers crossed that we may get a lightsabre-wielding Leia demonstrating how much she disapproves of threats to her family in this novel...

[colls]

1. LOL - yes, the Jawa thing was weird. Amusing! Unique! But weird. The other Wookie's fixation bordered on sexual harassment, I agree it was uncomfortable. I'm not sure about the underlying reasons why it was included or if the author just thought it was ironic or something?

2. Right? So many failed students and no one seems to question if maybe he's not cut out to be a teacher. (I love Luke, I'm just sayin'...)

3. Where is L3 when you need a droid uprising? *digs up icon*

4. oh!! Yes, a lightsaber-wielding Leia would be awesome! I hope we get that, too.

[barbiejedi]

1. I find it really odd that someone decided that the way to get 20-year-old Imperial equipment refurbished for sale was to transplant lots of sand and Jawas and a crawler to an asteroid in Smuggler's Run.

Agreed. It feels like a shoehorned reference to Children of the Jedi, which the author lampshades, but doesn't really do anything to justify its addition to this novel.