Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel by James LucenoMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
I had to read this one since I loved the Rogue One film so much. I had been saving it for a rainy day (or a blue one, in any case), and finally got into it. It's a precursor to the events of the film, looking into the emergence of Galen Erso as the premier scientific mind of the Empire.
The story begins as the Clone Wars come to an end. The Republic and the Separatists couldn't be at greater odds, and tensions continue to rise. In the midst of this, Galen and his pregnant wife Lyra are arrested and kept apart. They are thankfully brought together for the birth of their daughter Jyn, who, unbeknown to them, will make a heroic sacrifice in their name several years later.
The book brings in a few of the main characters from the film, including the vile villain Orson Krennic. He is exactly as pedantic as his film version, but at this stage, he has less confidence to go with it. Krennic's wish to commandeer the Empire's secret weapons programme is what reconnects him with Galen, and he is the reason why the Ersos never find any peace again.
As enjoyable as it is to get a backstory to these characters and their actions, I found the book to be largely superfluous. Its confused plotting and errant character development did these characters a grave injustice. Galen is a pacifist; a man married to his love of science and his work. What does Lyra see in him? Lyra, an adventurer and nature enthusiast, gives up her entire life to join him at his scientific labs - spending her time transcribing his work. Wait, what? Lyra from the film didn't look like the kind of person who would put her life on the back burner. She may have been on screen for a total of five minutes, but in those minutes her characterisation was clear - she has enough faith in her daughter to know she can take care of herself; she loves her husband enough to take on the Empire; she firmly believes in the Force and its ability to guide you, and most importantly, she dies fighting for what's right.
None of that comes across in the book. Galen and Lyra aren't a happy couple in love, but two people dutifully bonded to each other. Their feelings for each other aren't shown; their relationship is told to us. I found this incredibly disappointing. They spend the majority of the book apart - maybe not physically, but certainly existentially and ideologically.
Krennic too comes across as someone worryingly obsessed with Galen. There's a weird rivalry between Lyra and Krennic for the affections and attention of Galen (which sounds more romantic than it is), which plays out uncomfortably throughout the book. Krennic doesn't capitalise on the debts the Ersos owe him, not in a logical fashion in any case. He constantly attempts to drive a wedge between the couple, which is not a regular way of currying favour with the one person about to deliver you the perfect tool for a promotion.
Galen is written as a kind of messiah. Only he can create the master weapon, no one else. He starts the book as a company man - it's a bit of a leap, no matter which way you look at it. It would have been far more logical for him to have been working for a scientific company in the Republic, only for it to become absorbed into the Galactic Empire, which then proceeds to try and weaponise his work. A clash of ideologies is what sets Krennic and the Ersos apart, or at least that's what it looked like in the film. The author of the book, however, doesn't understand that. Hence we get an overly convoluted plot, none of which makes sense half the time.
Saw Guerrera, undoubtedly a fascinating character worthy of a few books, only comes in at the end, and plays nary a part in the Ersos' lives. Another baffling decision by the author - Saw is the first person Lyra turns to when Krennic arrives to capture them in the film, yet they have only one encounter in the book to build their trust of each other. That is the interesting relationship we wanted to know about!
Aside from the bizarre takes on the many relationships in the book, I also felt the author struggled to understand the machinations of the political worlds the book encompasses. Going from the Clone Wars era to that of the Imperial Senate run by Emperor Palpatine is a lot to figure out - add to that the knowledge that the Geonosians had a blueprint of the Death Star more than 30 years prior to the Death Star being built, and that Count Dooku, leader of the Separatists and secret follower of Palpatine is then betrayed by the Emperor himself, and you can see why the author drowned in film facts and new canon information. It's a muddled mess, trying to showcase a galactic conflict through the narrow vision of Krennic's ambition.
This book, despite its flaws, is an entertaining journey into a fictional world that so many of us adore. While not always delivering a coherent or cohesive plot, we see another side to these characters who have now become as important as those we first saw 40 years ago. There's no denying the magic of Star Wars. The Force isn't always with this book, but give it a shot if you want to step back into a galaxy far, far away...
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