Wedge Antilles recruits Thane to the Rebel Alliance, where he becomes an X-wing fighter pilot. After the Battle of Hoth, Ciena recognizes Thane's flying style from battle footage and realizes that Thane had joined the Rebellion. This causes a dilemma within Ciena, who still has feelings for Thane but is loyal to the Empire. It’s an event enjoyed by both die hard fans and families alike and has raised thousands of pounds for charity. Put simply, if you like Star Wars, then you can't go wrong with Lost Stars... Is it the best novel in the Star Wars universe? Maybe so."-- SF Signal Saf's Review: Lost Stars by Davidson, Saf on Making Star Wars ( September 11, 2015) (archived from the original on February 11, 2019) Eight years after the fall of the Old Republic, The Galactic Empire now reigns over the known galaxy. Resistance to the Empire has been all but silenced. Only a few courageous leaders such as Bail Organa of Alderaan still dare to openly oppose Emperor Palpatine.

I also appreciated the handling of Ciena Ree as she's a good deconstruction of the "Good Imperial." A lot of Timothy Zahn's writings show Imperials as just normal people following their government and questioning why it's so bad to be a soldier for the Emperor. Ciena Ree's perspective is a nightmare for a moral person and shows exactly why you can't be a good person for an organization underneath Palpatine and Vader. Justifying their atrocities makes you evil or deluded. They continue to lead their cohort in performance until a few years into their academy careers. The group is partaking in an exercise where they build laser cannons from spare parts. Ciena's works well but Thane's fails to power on. The instructor soon discovers it has been sabotaged. Inexplicably, the evidence points to Ciena as the culprit. Ciena's roommate Jude does her own independent investigation and concludes that Thane sabotaged his own cannon. With insufficient evidence either way, no one is expelled but both of them fail the assignment. This drops them from their top spots in the class. LOST STARS by Claudia Gray is probably one of my top five Star Wars books with the others being THE THRAWN TRILOGY by Timothy Zahn and SHATTERPOINT by Matthew Stover. It is a book which doesn't talk about Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han, or the other characters but follows two original characters through the events of the Galactic Civil War (A New Hope to the Battle of Jakku following Return of the Jedi). The novel was released in conjunction with Star Wars: Aftermath on September 4, 2015, as a part of the Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens publishing initiative, in preparation for the December 18, 2015 release of the seventh installment in the film saga, Star Wars: The Force Awakens. [3] After their graduation, Ciena is assigned to the Devastator, Darth Vader's Star Destroyer, while Thane is assigned to the Death Star as a TIE pilot. Both Thane and Ciena witness Alderaan being destroyed by the Death Star. Thane ultimately survives the Death Star's destruction, having been sent away on a search mission on Dantooine.Cienas Hintergrund ist deutlich bescheidener als Thanes. Ohne Thanes Freundschaft und materielle Unterstützung hätte es Ciena weit schwieriger gehabt und wohl nicht geschafft zusammen mit ihm die begehrten Plätze an der Imperialen Akademie auf Coruscant zu ergattern. Ob von der Autorin gewollt oder nicht, Cienas Karrierestart als vorgebildete Eliteschülerin war nur durch Thane möglich. Wer von beiden nun der wirklich bessere Pilot ist lässt LOST STARS offen, doch nach Jahren im aktiven Einsatz als Pilot hat Thane am Ende zumindest die höhere Routine. Ciena ist jedoch die erfahrene Offizierin. Thane Kyrell a child in a rich family, and Ciena Ree, a poor valley girl, are the two central characters of our narrative. Childhood friends, whom despite their differences fight to help each other reach the lauded Royal Imperial Academy on Coruscant. From there they build carriers within the ranks of the Empire to varying degrees of success. Each exposed to the propaganda and its use in hiding the real evil of the Empire. Perhaps the great writing of Gray is highlighted with the words “She stood before him at last. Their eyes met. And Ciena punched him in the gut, hard.” – I was literally blown away. So unexpected, yet so perfect for the character. Two star characters, with a love lost to war. Star Wars to release 20 books in journey to The Force Awakens -- exclusive by Breznican, Anthony on Entertainment Weekly ( March 10, 2015) (archived from the original on May 25, 2020)

The boys take off but Thane and Ciena remain behind. Instead of punishing them, Tarkin questions them. Finding out they were merely interested in the ship, he quizzes them and comes to realize the children are bright. He invites them into the shuttle where they continue to impress by identifying the controls. Tarkin gives them a speech about the glory of serving the Empire and the possibility that one day they themselves could pilot a shuttle or even command a Star Destroyer for the Empire. This sets the two children on a new life's mission: to attend an Imperial Academy and become officers in the Imperial Navy. You can also expect to see such fan favorites such as Admiral Ozzel, General Rieekan, Mon Mothma, Princess Leia, and Vader himself pop into the story narrative. These are not forced cameos, and are in fact great little moments in Thane and Ciena’s tale. We also visit Yavin, Dantooine, Hoth, Bespin, Endor and there is even time for a mention of Lothal, throughout the novel, and it is intriguing to see the events from an angle we were not previously exposed too.They both approach Jude to continue her investigation into who sabotaged Thane's cannon. She concludes it was the Academy itself. Politics and corruption in the ranks are to blame. Thane and Ciena get into a huge fight about whether or not they should do anything about it. Thane insists they do, but Ciena's sense of honor and loyalty gets in the way. Thane storms off.

The prologue of Lost Stars takes place eight years after the formation of the Galactic Empire, which Star Wars: Galactic Atlas dates to 19 BBY. Therefore, the prologue takes place in 11 BBY. Chapter One takes place five years later, therefore placing the start of the novel in 6 BBY. The novel ends one month after the Battle of Jakku, which Star Wars: Galactic Atlas dates to 5 ABY.

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Dass sich Thane der Rebellion anschließt ist eine lange gereifte Entscheidung er tut es nicht, um eine Neue Republik zu gründen, sondern um das Imperium zu bekämpfen. Der Kampf gegen Palpatine wird für ihn zur Rebellion gegen seinen eigenen grausamen Vater und somit war Thanes Entscheidung wohl schon von anfang an vorherbestimmt. Doch man kann Thane auch als den Sohn aus reichem Hause beschreiben, der sich aus nicht ganz so idealistischen Gründen der Rebellion anschließt. So oder so, Thane Kyrell ist einer der interessantesten Rebellen, weil er eben kein Idealist ist. The latest to fall under the Emperor’s control is the isolated mountain planet Jelucan, whose citizens hope for a more prosperous future even as the Imperial Starfleet gathers overhead…. Aristocratic Thane Kyrell and villager Ciena Ree reside on the Outer Rim planet of Jelucan, where the two bond over their shared love of flying and interest in enrolling at the Imperial Academy to become TIE fighter pilots. While enrolled at the Imperial Academy on Coruscant, they top their classes, often competing with each other for first in their class. They remain good friends until Thane's laser cannon project is sabotaged by the Academy itself, who frame Ciena for doing so. As punishment, both fail the assignment and lose the top spots of the class. When Thane proposes the theory that the Academy itself had framed Ciena for sabotaging Thane's project, Ciena accuses him of being disloyal to the Empire. It was also fun to see characters such as Dak take a little bit of prominence on Hoth, and the return of a prequel favorite in Grand Vizer Mas Amedda as he resides in power following the Emperor’s death. Indeed, the one character who fell flat for me was Nash Windrider who is an Alderaanian Imperial who goes insane trying to justify his loyalty to the Empire after his planet's destruction. Ciena is repulsed by him and hates him for going after Thane Kyrios. However, Nash is doing the exact same thing she is doing and Thane tried to kill him so Ciena just comes off as a huge hypocrite.

The premise of the books is a variation on Romeo and Juliet in Space. In this case, aristocrat Thane Kyrell and rural poor-girl Ciena Ree are born on the same planet in the Outer Rim territories. Both of them are extremely good pilots, though, and manage to qualify to go to the Imperial Academy on Coruscant due to a chance encounter with Grand Moff Tarkin on a good day. Once enrolled, Thane Kyrell becomes increasingly disillusioned with the Empire while Ciena becomes increasingly fervernt. The pair fall in love but their politics manage to separate them just before the Death Star's completion signals the beginning of a new age in the galaxy. Climaxing with The Battle of Jakku, Ciena is the commanding officer that chooses to crash the destroyer into the planet, an “ethical” decision she learnt in the early days of her training at the beginning of the novel. But was the decision based on her having lost her love, Thane, and the unbearable life in the Empire being all she had left, or had the darkness of losing that love scarred and changed her….it was quite an emotional end, and left open enough for the reader to form their own opinion. The reign of the Galactic Empire has reached the Outer Rim planet of Jelucan, where aristocratic Thane Kyrell and rural villager Ciena Ree bond over their love of flying. Enrolling at the Imperial Academy together to become fighter pilots for the glorious Empire is nothing less than a dream come true for the both of them. But Thane sours on the dream when he sees firsthand the horrific tactics the Empire uses to maintain its ironclad rule.In the end, Ciena is held as a prisoner of war. When Thane visits her, he assures her that she will be released soon, though Ciena still affirms her loyalty to the Empire. The tale is littered with fun name-dropping, and major events tying into the trials and tribulations of the core characters. From the offset they meet Grand Moff Tarkin and his assistant Piett. But these are not token throwaway appearances; there is quite inspired character building in these encounters both for our protagonists, but also those much loved movie characters. Tarkin appears in a few scenes in the book, and it provides a fantastic insight into the man. Tarkin has perhaps been the best-written character in the new canon, and I would love to see more works featuring him. Tarsunt (First appearance, simultaneous with Smuggler's Run: A Han Solo & Chewbacca Adventure, and The Weapon of a Jedi: A Luke Skywalker Adventure) For Ciena, the only words that can describe her would echo from the grave of the first Imperial she met – Grand Moff Tarkin.