| REBEL WITH A CAUSE
The events of the past give
Book review by |  |
The New Rebellion
by Kristene Kathryn Rusch
The theme that our greatest enemy resides in our past and in ourselves is the backbone in Star Wars. From Ben Kenobi's attempt to teach Anakin Skywalker to the Imperial Senate's toleration of Senator Palpatine's lust for power to the possibility that Luke might turn to the Dark Side in Return of the Jedi, the Star Wars mythos reminds us that threats from within could be more dangerous than any from without. Whether its the Bible, a horror novel, or a Star Wars story,the epic battle between good and evil inside each one of us that demands the most attention and inquiry.
Such is the case with Kristine Kathryn Rusch's The New Rebellion; the major characters must deal with the evils in their pasts that return to threaten the future of the galaxy. While President Leia Organa-Solo convenes a meeting of the New Republic's Senate, a violent terrorist attack kills several key Senators and sets the remaining members on a squabble for power, rendering the governmental body unable to function. Bent on finding the responsible party, Han and Chewbacca, Lando, and Luke venture in different directions. From locales such as "Smugglers Run" to the hauntingly mysterious worlds of Msst and Telti, Rusch presents her first foray into the world of Star Wars with descriptions of new destinations that capture the imagination.
Smugglers' Run is a collection of asteroids that presents different kind of dangers than simple collisions while navigating. True, it is difficult to land on the different asteroids (called "Skips"), but it is perhaps more difficult to live inside the Run without eyes in the back of your head. The danger of the great deception that Han, Chewie and Lando must uncover is matched only by the danger they face by confronting their reputations among the smugglers. Another world, Almania, must suffer incredible horror from Kueller, the cruel antagonist in the tale. Artists, engineers, women and children are slaughtered by a man who has one goal in mind: the destruction of both Luke Skywalker and the New Republic he represents.
New characters such as Kueller fuel The New Rebellion, as well as an underlying theme of darkness and regret. Kueller, possibly a former student of Luke Skywalker's, falls to the Dark Side and hatches a plan to destroy the New Republic from without and within. Rusch manages to forge a new villain with the calm, violent nature of Darth Vader yet possessing the cool temper of a calculating Godfather. Another character, Nandreeson, is a crime lord living in Smuggler's Run and belongs to the class of aliens know as Glottalphips. Lizard-like yet amphibious, Nandreeson hatches his own plot to snare Lando for past debts and present hatred. We also visit Brakiss (first seen in the "Young Jedi Knight" series), Luke's former student who has fallen under the power of both the Dark Side and Kueller. With Brakiss, Rusch examines exactly how a young person full of promise could be lured by the Dark Side and find himself morally torn between good and evil, unable to decide where his heart and soul belong.
On the side of good we are introduced to Cole Fardreamer, a young mechanic from Tatooine (sound familiar?) who grew up learning of Luke's deeds and dreams of aiding the Republic in a similar heroic way.
The theme of evil within good is personified best with the Kueller-Brakiss-Skywalker connection. Here, Rusch examines a theme echoed throughout Star Wars but not examined deeply in the Bantam novels until now; the inevitability that one of Luke's students may become the greatest foe in Star Wars lore. Kevin J. Anderson examined this possibility with an emotional Kyp Durron in the "Jedi Search" trilogy, but what Rusch presents is quite different. By her storyline she asks "what if, like Obi-Wan, Luke either makes a mistake in his teaching or one of his students finds the Dark Side more appealing and decides to turn?" In addition, what if that turn is made with great forethought and deliberation, absent the kind of emotion experienced by either Anakin Skywalker or Kyp Durron? What if that individual possesses the ability in the Force and the force of character to marshall troops, ships, and subterfuge to attack the New Republic not as a superior force but as a smaller, faster foe? These ideas of Skywalker's students deliberately turning to their own dark temptations are the core of The New Rebellion and represent some of the most original ideas to appear since 1991.
Not only do some of Luke's students face their dark pasts but the major characters must revisit their failings. Leia, faced with the destruction of many of the members of the Senate, must now try to reconstitute the Senate and deal with the possibility that former imperials will now occupy many of the seats held by supporters of the Rebellion. Her patience and political skill are put to their greatest test as she faces increasing criticism and her own prejudice. Luke must face the possibility that students of his have fallen to the temptation he turned away from many years before. He must also live with the reminder that he may have failed with his students as Ben Kenobi did with Anakin Skywalker - and that such failure may very well result in the same disastrous consequences for the Republic. Han and Lando must face their pasts as they delve into Smuggler's Run and the danger that awaits from fellow smugglers who hold old grudges. In each of these cases, Rusch artfully and subtly makes a point that many Star Wars fans, including myself, have not paid much attention to since Bantam began releasing new novels in 1991; that each of these characters we have grown to love has prejudices and pasts that must surface if we are to continue to relate to them as deeply as we have for the past twenty years.
Rusch has made a great contribution to Star Wars lore with The New Republic, but there are a couple of criticisms concerning her novel that need to be addressed. The first involves the treatment of Luke as he ventures to confront the individual behind the plot to destroy the New Republic. Many fans have complained that authors have fallen into a pattern of weakening Luke before the final confrontation with evil in each of the novels. Rusch follows the same pattern by subjecting Luke to several attacks that seep his power before he faces Kueller. If Luke is facing a Force-wielding opponent who possesses lightsaber skills, why not have him face the antagonist at full strength? Kueller seems to be the best opponent to date for Luke, yet the reader is left to wonder how powerful Skywalker really is when he faces Kueller at less-than-full strength. Perhaps more importantly, with a weakened Skywalker the reader still does not know how powerful a Force-wielding opponent must be to effectively challenge Luke. The second criticism has to do with the length of the novel. In 383 pages Rusch introduces many interesting characters and alien species. Her plot is also one of the more sophisticated and complex of the Bantam one-novel series. However, upon finishing the book the reader feels that Rusch could have continued for another 100-150 pages and fleshed out the histories of these new characters and the past confrontations they had with the major characters that lead to the present struggles. While limiting the size of the novel may be part of easy marketing for this novel, the ideas it represents are rich enough that Rusch deserves an Anderson/Kube-McDowell/Allen-sized literary canvas on which to paint our imaginations instead of a stage smaller than the average John Grisham novel.
With these criticisms, The New Republic
represents a bold move in Star Wars mythos. By focusing on the characters,
their failings, and their histories, Rusch reminds us that the greatest enemy to peace
and the New Republic resides in its past and that only through a balance of tolerance
and vigilance will the Force defeat its greatest threat - itself.
( Jim Morrow has been with ECHO STATION since its inception, and doesn't think the Marvel Comics' run of Star Wars was nearly as bad as people claim it was.)
