Book review
WARNING: This is a LONG review/character study so bear with me!!
Lost Stars is a Star Wars story set in the years leading up to and during the original trilogy. It’s a story about honor, duty, and loyalty. However it is also a story about love.
The story follows our two protagonists, Thane and Ciena, from their home planet of Jelucan in the Outer Rim. They are from different classes but soon become best friends due to their shared love of flying and piloting. Since they were children, they’ve been conditioned to believe in the glory of the Empire and have both dreamed of one day flying in the Imperial Starfleet. They train together through the years until they turn sixteen and are accepted into the academy on Coruscant.
At the academy, it becomes clear that although Ciena and Thane are as close as can be, they also have different views of the world. Ciena wants to believe the good in everyone and everything. She can’t fathom that their Imperial officers would want to saboatage her and Thane. She has also been raised in a culture of loyalty and duty, and believes that promises cannot just be broken, or else they are not sacred.
Thane on the other hand has grown up in an abusive family. He recognizes that no institution is truly perfect, and has never had any delusions that the Empire is this all perfect government that doesn’t mean harm. He is still committed to be in the Fleet, however he doesn’t share the same upbringing of duty that Ciena has. These different beliefs cause a rift between them, lasting through most of their three years at the academy. Both at the top of their class, they quickly become gifted pilots and eventually reconnect before graduation day.
It’s important to understand that both Ciena and Thane have been taught that the Rebellion is a terrorist organization that only wants to promote chaos and death in the galaxy. This teaching will influence Ciena for almost the entirety of the story.
After graduation, Ciena is sent to the DESTROYER, the same ship that appears throughout A New Hope. Thane on the other hand is sent to the Death Star with fellow graduate Jude, a computer genius. Thus begins the intertwining journeys of Ciena and Thane and the original heroes of the trilogy. We see everything happen from a fresh perspective.
Ciena believes that she is doing the important and good work of the Empire, and is proud to have given her oath to serve, an oath that she does not take lightly. She has no sympathies with the Rebellion and believes that they must be wiped out for the betterment of the galaxy. It’s a twisted viewpoint but also makes sense for her character. She sees the best in the Empire and wants to see it prosper.
However, things change when the Death Star destroys the planet of Alderaan. At first, Ciena and Thane are both disturbed and horrified. After all, tens of billions of people have just been murdered and a planet no longer exists. It was also the home planet of Ciena’s colleague, Nash.
After the initial shock though, things begin to change. Ciena is desperate to justify the destruction of Alderaan because she can’t accept that she was a part of a power that murders the lives of billions. She decides to accept that the Empire only destroyed the planet to prevent a bigger war from happening (I love Ciena but this moment starts a poisonous pattern of thinking for her.) Not wanting to break her oath, Ciena consistently justifies everything the Empire has done and continues to do, because her sense of duty overrides the smaller part of her that doubts the Empire.
Thane on the other hand, remains disturbed by the Empire. After meeting up with Ciena following the genocide, they declare their feelings for each other and promise to come back to each other no matter what. But it becomes clear that even now, their priorities are only drifting further apart.
As Ciena becomes sucked into the rotten core of the Empire, Thane soon deserts and, eventually, decides to join the Rebellion. Not out of any love for the New Republic, but out of hatred for what the Empire is and what it represents. So, we have our two protagonists now on opposite sides of a war, even as their love grows stronger and stronger.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen this dynamic done so beautifully. At one point in the book when Ciena is tasked with finding Thane (an Empire deserter at this point), they spend the night together and she laments on the fact that although she is staunchly loyal to the Empire, she is also loyal to Thane. I loved the idea that loyalty doesn’t have to be either/or. While Ciena despises that Thane has joined the “terrorists,” she still loves him and even lies (breaking one of her values) to protect him.
I thought that Ciena’s descent into the Empire was fascinating. It truly shows the power of propaganda and how childhood upbringing can shape so much of how you see the world. Throughout the book, she consistently equates the destruction of Alderaan (which killed tens of billions of people) to the destruction of the Death Star (which killed two million people of the Empire).
To the outside observer, it seems obvious that the Death Star blowing up was good because it stopped the Empire from destroying any more worlds. But to Ciena, her friend Jude was on that station. And because of what she’s been taught about the Rebellion and their terrorist ways, she uses Jude’s name as a reason why the Rebellion is evil. When you’ve been conditioned in the way that Ciena has, it can be very hard to see the bigger picture, and this book did a great job of showing that.
Ciena’s resolve begins to crack when her mother is falsely accused of embezzlement on her home planet of Jelucan. Her superiors want her to accept the ruling no matter what, even if it was not just. Ciena comes to realize that the people of her planet are afraid to speak out against the Empire in any way out of fear of punishment or death. Ciena is horrified but justifies it by thinking that every institution has it faults (she’s in deep) but that it does not mean that the Empire as a whole is bad. This line of thinking makes sense, however. Her own father declares that they must be loyal to the Empire without question, giving us some insight into why Ciena is the way she is. So much of it is in the upbringing. It is on Jelucan that Ciena and Thane reconnect once more, at first fighting but also declaring their love once again, no matter how much has changed.
As a reader, the optimist in me just wanted to shake Ciena and make her understand how evil the Empire actually is. Say what you want about the Rebellion but at least they believed in free speech and the hope of a better future. But I knew it would not be so simple for her. Ciena does not want her promises to feel like they don’t matter. She NEEDS to see the good or else she feels that there wouldn’t be anything else for her.
This idea goes hand in hand with the character of Nash. If you recall, Nash’s home world was Alderaan. Although he is crushed and horrified by seeing his home world blown up, he also realizes that he now has nothing left besides his service to the Empire. Although Nash comes off as callous and cold, his character development is understandable. He needs to believe that it was necessary for Alderaan to be destroyed, otherwise he would have to accept that there’s nothing else left for him. He needs to believe that it is the Rebellion that is responsible for this tragedy. In this way, he is very similar to Ciena. They pour their hatred into the Rebellion because accepting that the Empire isn’t inherently good would be too much to handle. It’s frustrating and heartbreaking as a reader, but it also makes complete sense.
It isn’t until the final battle above Endor that it clicks for Ciena. Her and the other imperial troops have gathered to see Palpatine himself. Immediately, Ciena senses a strong aura of menace and evil radiating off
of this man. She doesn’t want to believe it but it also makes her question: if this is who we are serving, what does that say about the Empire itself? This becomes even more clear when she realizes that a NEW Death Star has been constructed. She had always convinced herself that the destruction of Alderaan was a necessity; but seeing the New Death Star cements the fact that they intend to destroy more worlds on purpose, simply to demonstrate their power, strength, and ruthlessness. This goes against everything Ciena thought she knew about the Empire. She knows that Jude would never want this.
To be clear, this does not mean in any way that Ciena has any sympathies or allegiance to the Rebellion. This more so a struggle that she is facing within herself. She has a duty to uphold the oath that she gave to the Empire, but her values also go against everything she now knows the Empire to be. So while there’s a war going on between the Empire and the Rebellion, there’s also a war going on within Ciena herself. And this is a big turning point for her because the only reason she is still loyal is because of her oath and nothing else.
In the final battle above Endor, by chance or by the will of the Force, Ciena and Thane once again cross paths. Ciena has been tasked with ensuring that at least one of the rebel ships makes it out of the battle alive and she intends to make sure it’s Thane who gets out safely. She stills get to keep her oath while helping save the person she loves.
While she is inclined to save Thane; her crew mate Nash, has other ideas. He’s bottled up his hatred for the rebellion and now lets it lose, willing to murder Thane in the process, which horrifies Ciena. While she has managed to keep her values close to her, and also her love for Thane, Nash has been absorbed by the rotten core of the Empire. To him, there’s nothing else left. How ruthless are we willing to become in the name of duty? Ciena and Nash’s story forces us to consider this question.
At the end of this battle, as we all know, The Rebellion prevails and the Emperor is no more. While Thane celebrates with the others on Endor, he also thinks of Ciena, and honors her commitment to protect him even if they had been on opposite sides. He believes her to be dead, and as much as he loves her, he realizes that they would probably never have the same resolve.
Meanwhile, Ciena has survived after crashing when the new Death Star exploded. After this crash, she accepts that she has no loyalty and no faith in the Empire. However, STUBBORN as Ciena is, she is still convinced that she must keep her oath, no matter what. She knows that there is probably nothing for her outside of her service, and decides that the one thing she can do for her values is keep her promises. And so, Ciena becomes the captain of her very own Imperial Ship. At this point in time, however, her loyalty is with her crew only, not the Empire itself. As we know, at this point in time the New Republic is already trying to cement their power. This is just an attempt from the Empire to fight back.
Through the next year, while Ciena goes on missions for the Empire, Thane is still with the New Republic. He eventually admits that even though the New Republic is not perfect, it’s definitely a step up from the Empire. People can speak freely without fear, and everyone is constitutionally appointed. He is at a better point in his life and has been going on missions for the Republic in an attempt to shut down any more imperial activity and cement peace throughout the galaxy.
For one last time, (I choose to believe) The Force brings Ciena and Thane together one more time. Thane’s crew ends up boarding Ciena’s imperial ship. Not knowing it’s Thane, Ciena resolves to let her crew escape while sending her ship into the nearby planet of Jakku. Locking herself in the bridge, the only person able to guess her pass phrase is, you guessed it, Thane. She is resolved to crash with her ship and he is resolved to save her. Eventually, they make it out alive and crash land on Jakku.
In the last few pages of the novel, Ciena is in a Republic holding room, awaiting her fate. Her and Thane have their last conversation of the book. While Ciena acknowledges the legitimacy of the New Republic, she has no wish to follow it or be a part of it. She uses the weak excuse of the current chaos in the galaxy and is adamant that she will be treated harshly for her crimes. As Thane tries to reassure her, it clear that these two, no matter how much they love each other, will never be on the same page. As frustrating as it is, and as much as I as a reader just wanted them to be happy together and for Ciena to have a full rebellion character arc like Thane, I knew this was the more realistic ending given Ciena’s upbringing and values.
It speaks volumes that while Ciena was consistently willing to gives excuses to the Empire, and see the best in it, she refused to even entertain the idea that the Rebellion isn’t a chaos-inducing terrorist organization. We as readers can see the irony and hypocrisy in this, but to someone like Ciena, she probably wholeheartedly believed it.
The book ends with Nash resolving to rebuild the Empire and crush the New Republic for good, blaming them for the death of Ciena. This of course is meant to be a teaser of what will be the First Order in The Force Awakens.
Just. Wow. This book is an amazing commentary of the powerful effect of propaganda, conditioning, family upbringing, and our own values as people. In my heart I believe that Ciena is a good person. That’s what breaks my heart the most. She’s been taught that a promise is a sacred thing. She would die before giving up on someone or something. Her fierce loyalty is both a blessing and a curse. She loves Thane so much and would never betray him. I believe she would even die for him.
But the problem is that she also holds these same beliefs about the Empire for almost the entire book. And I think that I can safely say that that is one of her flaws. Loyalty is a great thing. But as a person, you also need to learn how to challenge long held beliefs, loyalty be damned. I’m not gonna say it’s easy. But in my heart I hope that one day Ciena learns this lesson.
Her journey as a character is so fascinating to me. Not only her fierce loyalty and justification of the Empire, but also the smaller part of her that recognized that maybe this path doesn’t align with her values. I can only hope that one day Ciena is free to live as her authentic self without this the mental load of The Oath™️ on her shoulders. IMO: Some promises need to be broken if the work you’re doing no longer aligns with what you believe to be right. I just don’t want her on the same path of hatred and self destruction as Nash.
Her journey was consistently juxtaposed with that of Thane’s. As we know, Thane was not raised with these same unwavering values. He was able to recognize that nothing is as perfect as it’s made out to be. After all, he came from a rich family and had many privileges, however he was also abused by his parents and brother. This defined how he saw the Empire, because he did not have the same idealistic mindset as Ciena, who just wants to see the good in everything. Once Thane sees firsthand the atrocities that the Empire has committed, it only cements the fact that he does not want to be a part of it. So while Ciena tries to justify the attacks, Thane decides that enough is enough.
And he doesn’t join the rebellion right away. He doesn’t believe that the New Republic would be an amazing utopia either. However, he realizes how evil the Empire is to its core, and decides to join the Rebellion because at this point, anything would be better than the current state of the galaxy.
This book showed that while love can reach across galaxies and time itself, ultimately our values may never align no matter how we may want them to. Ciena never betrays Thane and Thane never stops believing in Ciena. They find each other over and over again. But in the end, Ciena’s own inner battle prevents her from embracing a new path for herself beside Thane. It’s not the heartfelt romantic ending I desperately wanted but it made sense even though it broke my heart. I haven’t really seen a perspective from inside the Empire during this time, so the humanization of Ciena and Nash kept me hooked and was a vert interesting concept.
All in all, Claudia Gray does a fantastic job of humanizing characters from both the Rebellion and the Empire. Ciena is such a complex character with a character arc that forced me to ask many questions about myself and what I would have done in her shoes. The juxtaposition of her and Thane’s experiences was beautifully done and I loved seeing the original trilogy in this fresh light. However, the romantic in me still hopes to see the two of them truly united again sometime in the future. This is a great book about our morals and how far we’re willing to go in the name of duty and honor. Next time I watch the trilogy, I’ll know that Thane and Ciena were right in there along with our main heroes.
- Goodreads rating – 4.28
- REVIEW – Katie✨