Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel

Hmm... a rather uninspired and lethargic read for me. Perhaps I should have read it back in 2017 when I bought it after the Rogue One hype, as I feel I would've been a lot more invested then than now. The novel definitely adds detail to the Star Wars universe, with its coolest moments in Part 1 being the links to the Clone Wars episodes I have been recently watching and then later showing us how the Empire enforces worlds and kept the Death Star a secret during Parts 2 and 3. However, the characters of Krennic, Galen, Lyra and Saw are already fully-developed from the film and new additions like Has Obitt don't really add much to the story. Further, the dialogue was wieldy and there were long stretches of exposition spent inside a character's head spoon-feeding the reader - and don't even get me started on the scientific and mathematical jargon which was omnipresent throughout the book. Ultimately, it didn't feel like an entertaining or rewarding enough novel on its own, and whilst it added to the worldbuilding and presented new perspectives on the Empire's dictatorial power and Krennic's crafty ambitious moves, I don't see myself recommending this unless to the die-hard fans.

3.5

My favourite Star Wars novels are always those that play with the conventions of what the reader expects from a “Star Wars story”, and this one was no exception. It's an employment drama that mostly focuses on interpersonal conflict and workplace politics - it just so happens that those politics and interpersonal relationships are focused around the building of the Death Star. And as a workplace drama it's a pretty entertaining one; the audience of course knows the outcome of Galen Erso's increasing unease over his work for the Empire, and the tension in the story becomes mostly about how much of himself he's going to lose to the manipulations of Orson Krennic and Grand Moff Tarkin. Reading this made me excited to watch Rogue One again, as well, because knowing more about the relationship between those characters will probably deepen my appreciation of their scenes in the film.

I really enjoyed this book. It tied in perfectly with the Rogue One movie and did an excellent job of explaining a lot of the back story that makes the movie more complete. The book did a great job demonstrating how the empire took root through the eyes of several characters both within the empire and on the fringes. It also gave Krennic, Galen and Lyra a lot more depth. If you like Star Wars and/or Rogue One, I highly recommend this book.

This was a great prequel to Rogue one. I listened to it as an Audio book and kept you intrigued.

The Erso's are pretty boring. It would have been a more interesting read if there was more of a focus on the Imperials.

This felt a bit like homework that was due before I was allowed to see the Rogue One movie.

Ultimately a super interesting and juicy story, but I didn't feel as if I got more out of this compared to say, reading the plot outline online. I missed some of the immersion and emotion that some of the other books were able to do, whereas I felt this one was more “matter of fact”.

Lyra is pretty awesome though, and little Jyn is super cute!

I read these to follow the story which I like but I really do not like the writing. After reading so many other sci-fi and fantasy books that are amazing this is such a letdown. I get that they are written like this for a reason but I could be so much more. Instead of something deep and rich it is more like it is written like a screenplay.

Listen don't read this book. Every Star Wars book has fantastic sound effects. Do the audiobook with headphones to get the most out of them. Catalyst is a great prelude to the movie, opening Dec 16, 2016. I can't wait.