Lost Stars by Claudia Gray (Science Fiction)

Lost Stars follows two pilots that grew up together on their home world of Jelucan-Thane Kyrell and Ciena Ree. They have been best friends since they were kids and they enlist to the Imperial Academy to become pilots for their Empire together. Growing up, Cienna grew up on the poor side of the planet and Thane grew up with the more wealthy people. Their parents were never happy with their friendship but they never cared. Once they graduate, they have pledged their lives to the Empire. Cienna couldn’t be happier, being an imperial pilot is all she had ever dreamed of as a poor little girl on Jelucan, but Thane starts to see the ugly side of the Empire. He has second thoughts on serving the Empire and defects to join the rebel alliance. The book follows Thane and Cienna’s relationship and how it can survive when they are on opposite sides of a war. And the hardest parts of war they are forced to deal with.

I really enjoyed reading this book for a number of reasons. For one, it showed parts of Star Wars that aren’t represented in the movies. For example, Thane doesn’t believe the force even exists and he doesn’t see Luke Skywalker as this hero he is shown as in the movies. It also goes more into what it is like being a part of the Empire, between climbing in the ranks, attending the Imperial Academy, and the fear the troops have of Darth Vader. Another reason this book was great was that it took place over a long period of time. In the beginning of the book Thane and Cienna are just kids when they first meet, the war was just getting started, the rebellion was still small. Then it follows them through their training at the Imperial Academy and their rising in ranks in the Empire throughout the entire war, and ends after the war was basically over. While it being a long book made it very interesting, it was also a bit of a set back. It took a while to read and there were some parts where there wasn’t much happening just like there are times in real life, not every second of every day has something interesting going on and I think this book did a good job showing that. 

Reviewed by Grace S., Grade 10