Poe pays a visit to Maz Kanata, who come across as very dismissive and unhelpful at first (in her trademark enigmatic way) before proving her intentions and loyalty with some useful information: the First Order has a list of wanted Resistance operatives, collaborators, and sympathizers, along with an inventory of those they have already captured. That last question gets answered pretty much right away in Resistance Reborn, as the first act of the novel sees Leia and hotshot pilot Commander Poe Dameron scrounging for reinforcements in the wake of their near-defeat.

This particular volume goes a long way in answering a number of lingering questions from Rian Johnson’s Episode VIII, such as “Why didn’t any of General Leia’s allies answer her calls for assistance?”, “Why weren’t pilot Temmin ‘Snap’ Wexley (played by actor Greg Grunberg in Star Wars: The Force Awakens) and his Black Squadron of starfighters present at the Battle of Crait?” and “How can the Resistance possibly proceed– not to mention stand up against the military might of the First Order– after being left with a handful of soldiers and just one ship?” The new novel Star Wars: Resistance Reborn by genre author Rebecca Roanhorse ( Trail of Lightning, Race to the Sun) is one of several examples of this endeavor– all set for release this fall– that seek to fill in the gaps between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. Faced with a similar (perhaps even more daunting) challenge is Lucasfilm Publishing’s output of “Journey to The Rise of Skywalker ” books and comics, as basically everything that doesn’t get wrapped up in a tidy bow in the movie is expected to be dealt with in ancillary alternate-media materials. Not only does it have to satisfyingly resolve the current Star Wars sequel trilogy produced under Lucasfilm’s current owner Disney, but it must wrap up over four decades and nine films worth of “Skywalker Saga” live-action theatrical content, an epic sci-fi/fantasy yarn that began in 1977 with the original blockbuster Star Wars film. When Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hits theaters this winter, it has a lot of work to do.

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