With one speech and thunderous applause, Chancellor Palpatine brought the era of the Republic crashing down. In its place rose the Galactic Empire. Across the galaxy, people rejoiced and celebrated the end of war—and the promises of tomorrow. But that tomorrow was a lie. Instead, the galaxy became twisted by the cruelty and fear of the Emperor’s rule.
During that terrifying first year of tyranny, Mon Mothma, Saw Gerrera, and Bail Organa face the encroaching darkness. One day, they will be three architects of the Rebel Alliance. But first, each must find purpose and direction in a changing galaxy, while harboring their own secrets, fears, and hopes for a future that may never come unless they act.
Star Wars is political.
Star Wars has always been political.
Star Wars will always be political.
Just wanted to get that part of the review taken care of early, because phew…it can get pretty exhausting watching people tie themselves in knots on Twitter, screeching about FoRCed diVersiTY and BECAUSE OF WOKE or whatever the fuck.
Like, for real, I am not the world’s most analytical reader. But if you can honestly say with your whole chest that Star Wars isn’t political and it’s just about The Story and laser swords and pew pew pew…you are willfully not engaging with the material and it’s embarrassing.
Now, all that said…not every Star Wars story is About Politics, and I do think there’s a difference. All art is political. I believe that wholeheartedly. But certainly, some books/movies/shows are much more overtly about politics.
This is one of those stories.
The announcement of the REIGN OF THE EMPIRE trilogy came right in the thick of the most recent election cycle, and the book was released mere weeks into the second Trump term…which feels wildly prescient. Regardless of any real-world connections to the impending/ongoing rise of fascism, it was a super exciting announcement. A brand new trilogy with different authors for all three books? And it’s a political/spy thriller? Andor vibes are strong? And the first book is by Alexander Freed, my favorite Star Wars author?
Sign me the fuck up.
The first book is THE MASK OF FEAR and I loved it. A lot. It’s also probably the most demanding Star Wars book I’ve ever read. Like, this book really demands your focus & attention, and even then…there were times where I felt like this book was a bit (or a lot) over my head.
The trilogy is set between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, in the extremely early days of the new Empire. The book (and trilogy) focuses on three big characters from the Star Wars saga: Mon Mothma, Bail Organa, and Saw Gerrera (though the focus on Saw is somewhat indirect, which I’ll mention in a bit).
Going into the book, we know that Mon, Bail, and Saw will all play crucial roles in the Rebellion. But we are a good ways off from that, and the book goes to great length to show how different these three characters are in their ideologies & in their approach to combating the Empire.
Mon Mothma is continuing to try and approach things via traditional means. Negotiating, passing bills, getting signatures and support. All trying to limit Palpatine’s power. I think we are seeing Mon as a character whose eyes aren’t fully opened to what the Empire truly is yet. But the book gets us inside Mon’s head in a way that I’m not sure any other Star Wars story has. This book is definitely in conversation with Andor in many ways, and goes a long way towards explaining how Mon gets started on a path towards the Rebellion. Freed also gives us lots of new facets of Mon’s personality, including her struggle with anxiety, something she takes medication for. Always cool seeing mental health rep in Star Wars!
With Bail, we see a character who is deep in grief. Yes, he’s overjoyed about Leia being in his life & getting to be a father. But we get the sense that Bail’s love & respect for the Jedi was something so deep and personal to him. And their vilification & persecution at the hands of Palpatine does not sit right with him. He thinks he has evidence that Palpatine manipulated the media in a way that paints the Jedi in a negative light, and he sets out to prove it, whatever the cost. He is dogged in his pursuit of the truth, and a little reckless too.
With Saw, we actually see his story unfold through the eyes of a new character, Soujen. Soujen is a cyberntically-enhanced Seperatist assassin who gets mixed up with Saw & his crew. Soujen is extremely morally gray & is at times so chilling in his whole approach to life and death. There’s something so enigmatic & captivating about this character though & I loved his chapters.
One last character that I wanted to highlight (because they lowkey became my favorite in the book) is Chemish. If you’ve read Alexander Freed’s ALPHABET SQUADRON trilogy (which absolutely fucking rips), you’ll know how incredibly diverse the cast of characters is. He continues to work towards a more inclusive Star Wars by giving Chemish, a human nonbinary character, their own POV chapters. Chemish is something of an apprentice spy for the Empire but…that description doesn’t quite do the character justice & because of the way we traditionally think of the Empire, makes them sound quite villainous when they really are not. Chemish is a character carrying around an enormous amount of grief & really struggling to find their way in the galaxy far, far away. I really latched onto this character & can’t help but think (and hope) that a huge part of the rest of this trilogy will be unfolding from their POV.
This book is dense & deeply complex. This is not an easy read by any stretch of the imagination. That said, it’s also Star Wars & there are more than a few moments of pure exhilaration & plenty of humor to go around. It’s an incredibly character driven story and it moves at a very deliberate pace, but sticking with it pays off in some huge ways. For sure, I can imagine some folks struggling with the pace & the density of the story here, but I found myself getting swept up by this book. Knowing where this all leads, that we are seeing the seeds of the Rebellion being planted here…it’s all just very cool.
Excluding anything to do with The High Republic, this is the first trilogy in the new canon with a different author for each of the books. I’m really curious & excited to see how each author brings their own style to the table. I’ve read & loved four of Rebecca Roanhorse’s non-Star Wars books, and I think her RESISTANCE REBORN is a criminally overlooked Star Wars novel! I haven’t read anything by Fran Wilde yet so I might plan to check out some of her stuff before book three of REIGN OF THE EMPIRE releases!
THE MASK OF FEAR was outstanding! Alexander Freed really swung for the fences here & delivered a grand, complex, and character-rich Star Wars political/spy thriller. I enjoyed this so much!
May the Force be with you!!
Grimdark Dad 