Before the awakening (2015, Disney lucasfilm press)
Published Sept. 10, 2015 by Disney lucasfilm press.
A companion piece to the Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens character novels, Star Wars: Before the Awakening is an anthology book that focuses on the lives of Rey, Finn, and Poe before the events of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
A nice, short read giving us three stories that happen before Force Awakens that shows us more of the character of Poe, Rey and Finn with different, small adventures that we didn't already know. Finn's finishes right before he goes down to Jakku, while the other two were a little earlier than that. Liked it!
A set of longish, yet still somewhat perfunctory, short stories. I found Poe's story to be the most interesting, probably because we get less of his story in Episode VII. Nothing in Finn's backstory is terribly surprising, especially for anyone who has read or watched any canon stories about Imperial cadet training (e.g., [book: Lost Stars] or the Rebels episodes that address it). Rey's story was drawn out a bit too long – not unlike the hot, sandy deserts of Jakku, I suppose – and the ending was telegraphed from miles away.
I don't mean to say these are bad stories, they just aren't great. They're worth reading for the Star Wars completist, but you won't really find much new in them.
