A New Dawn was the first novel written under the Disney/Lucasfilm umbrella. The Tarkin novel was grandfathered into the canon material and the Heir to the Jedi novel had been started, but this was the first novel written completely after the merger and under the new rules that everything released in any format was a part of the canon. This novel also has the distinction of setting up the two main characters of the Rebels animated series Kanan Jarrus and Hera Syndulla. Jarrus, had been a Jedi Padawan named Caleb Dumee at the time of Order 66 and narrowly managed to escape with his life. He went on the run and has been living as a freight pilot, who is also a womanizing alcoholic. Herra is doing what she can to disrupt the Empire at every turn, and she shows up at a mining colony that is being run by the Empire where Kanan is working, and the two end up, reluctantly, teaming up after Kanan has to use the Force in order to save himself.
While the novel does mention Palpatine and Vader, they do not make direct appearances. The book does include Rae Sloane, who is a main character in the Aftermath series of novels. At this point, she is a Captain of a Star Destroyer and has not reached the rank of Admiral. The main antagonist is a cyborg named Count Denetrius Vidian, whom the Empire dispatches to the mining colony to root out the rebels and restore production.
Overall, the book is very good. Because it is the first novel under the new canon, the hardcover version (which is out of print) is very hard to find at a reasonable price. But, you can still get it in mass-market paperback. The story does a good job establishing the two main characters but does not include the other members of the Ghost's crew at this point. It does not really suffer from not including legacy characters because there would be no reason for Kenobi, Luke, Leia, or Han to be included in this story without being shoehorned into it in a way that would not feel authentic. The book is about 400 pages long but is a fairly quick read. It is definitely one of the novels that I put in the must-read category especially if you are a fan of the Rebels animated series or plan on watching that.
While the novel does mention Palpatine and Vader, they do not make direct appearances. The book does include Rae Sloane, who is a main character in the Aftermath series of novels. At this point, she is a Captain of a Star Destroyer and has not reached the rank of Admiral. The main antagonist is a cyborg named Count Denetrius Vidian, whom the Empire dispatches to the mining colony to root out the rebels and restore production.
Overall, the book is very good. Because it is the first novel under the new canon, the hardcover version (which is out of print) is very hard to find at a reasonable price. But, you can still get it in mass-market paperback. The story does a good job establishing the two main characters but does not include the other members of the Ghost's crew at this point. It does not really suffer from not including legacy characters because there would be no reason for Kenobi, Luke, Leia, or Han to be included in this story without being shoehorned into it in a way that would not feel authentic. The book is about 400 pages long but is a fairly quick read. It is definitely one of the novels that I put in the must-read category especially if you are a fan of the Rebels animated series or plan on watching that.
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