By George & Josh Bate
Earlier this year, Lucasfilm Publishing Creative Director Michael Siglain revealed a new initiative for Star Wars books that “are genre stories first, Star Wars stories second.” The first entry in this genre initiative bolsters the words ‘A Star Wars Romance Novel’ on its cover and more than lives up to that logline as a YA romance filled with teen angst and emotion that just so happens to be set in a galaxy far, far away (and reveal quite a bit about the state of the galaxy in the years leading up to the sequel trilogy).
From author Ashley Poston, Eyes Like Stars follows Ardent Quay, a teenager obsessed with romance serials who is preparing for yet another cruise aboard her father’s star tour ship, the Starfarer. Before embarking, Ardent explores the streets of Coruscant in pursuit of a romance novel when she witnesses a murder and accidentally saves the life of Sian, a mysterious and charming young man with a sparkle in his pitch black eyes that give the illusion of a night sky. Now on the run from the First Order, Ardent reluctantly (or perhaps not so reluctantly, given she finds Sian to be frustratingly attractive) takes Sian aboard her father’s cruise ship as he attempts to bring a prized artifact – a lightsaber – back to the location it belongs.
Eyes Like Stars occupies an interesting spot in the Star Wars timeline, something author Ashley Poston takes full advantage of. The story unfolds sometime before the events of The Force Awakens and, although the time period isn’t exactly specified, context clues more specifically suggest it occurs within a year or so before the sequel trilogy begins. In focusing on this relatively underexplored period of the Star Wars timeline and unfolding from the perspective of a normal teenage girl, Poston’s novel offers unique insights into how regular people view the First Order, the Galactic Civil War, and more. Star Wars geeks like us who are eager for any and all crumbs that deepen one’s appreciation of the galaxy will love that Eyes Like Stars provides updates on planets like Geonosis and Naboo, reveals more about how the general public perceives the events of the Galactic Civil War and legends like Luke Skywalker, and provides new insights into how the First Order slowly ascended into a position of power in the galaxy.
Keep reading for a full breakdown of all the Easter Eggs, Hidden Details, and Canon Reveals from Eyes Like Stars. Warning: The following contains spoilers for the book.
The First Order in the Years Leading Up to the Sequel Trilogy
Some of the more fascinating set of insights yielded from Eyes Like Stars come in the form of how the general public in a galaxy far, far away perceive the First Order in the years leading up to The Force Awakens. Ardent Quay, a civilian with no deeper knowledge of politics, refers to the First Order as “zealots in the Unknown Regions who want to bring back to the Empire,” suggesting that the existence and motivations of the First Order are common knowledge at this point.
Characters throughout the book refer to the First Order as “fascists,” again highlighting how much of the general public views the burgeoning new Empire.
It is revealed that First Order propaganda has started circulating more frequently aross the Core Worlds, which aligns with the First Order’s steady increase in power in the years leading up to the sequel trilogy.
Hoth and Dantooine are refered to as “unsafe” nowadays, implying that the First Order has encroached upon both planets by the time of the sequel trilogy.
In taunting a First Order officer, Sian refers to Snoke as “your cute little Supreme Leader,” perhaps hinting that it is public knowledge that the First Order’s Supreme LEader Snoke is far from “cute” and “little.”
The Fate of Luke Skywalker’s Lightsaber is Revealed (Sort Of)
The lightsaber at the center of the novel, which Sian tries to return to its rightful home and keep out of the hands of the First Order, is ultimately revealed to be a lightsaber once owned by Luke Skywalker, albeit not the iconic lightsaber he, Anakin, and Rey wield in the Skywalker Saga. The book seems to be hinting throughout that the lightsaber is the iconic Skywalker saber that Maz presents to Rey in The Force Awakens, before subverting readers’ expectations at the last minute.
Ultimately, the lightsaber is revealed to be the yellow blade that Luke wields between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, as depicted in Marvel Comics’ Star Wars comic. This lightsaber once belonged to a Jedi Temple Guard and was found at an abandoned High Republic outpost on Tempes.
The book reveals that the First Order, led by Snoke, want to retrieve Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber, because it “may solidify the lie that Luke abandoned the galaxy.” Kylo Ren and Snoke are less interested in the lightsaber as a physical object and more in what the lightsaber represented. “A man felled an Empire with a lightsaber,” Ardent describes, which has led the First Order to want to rid the galaxy of this symbol of hope.
The book concludes with Ardent and Sian embarking on a trip to to Batuu to fix the lightsaber at Savi’s Workshop. From there, they plan on bringing thee lightsaber back to Tempes, which is where Luke found it in the first place.
A Ton of Familiar Faces Show Up
Maz Kanata appears in the novel as a guest aboard the Starfarer journeying throughout the galaxy. She speaks with Ardent and Sian at the end of the book, informng them that the lightsaber they have been transporting belongs to Luke Skywalker.
Sosha Soruna, the ruler of Naboo during the fall of the Empire, appears in the novel as the Starfarer lands on Naboo. Soruna first appeared in the second issue of the comic book Shattered Empire and was mentioned in the video game Star Wars: Squadrons. Eyes Like Stars reveals that Soruna is queer.
Kylo Ren makes a cameo appearance in the novel as he confronts Ardent and Sian. Kylo is in desperate pursuit of Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber and is disappointed when he sees that the lightsaber Sian has been carrying is not the iconic Skywalker saber. Little does Kylo know that the lightsaber was indeed owned by Luke Skywalker at one point. Ardent is unfamiliar with who Kylo Ren is but notes that he looks like “some warped version of pictures [she’d] seen of Darth Vader.” Characters refer to Kylo Ren as a “warlord” throughout the novel.
General Hux also makes a cameo appearance in the novel, accompanying Kylo Ren as he pursues the Skywalker lightsaber.
After escaping the clutches of Kylo Ren and the First Order, Ardent and the others retreat to Endor, where they are greeted by Leia Organa. “I had never met a story before, but Leia Organa was everything I had imagined she would be,” Ardent remarks. The book reiterates Leia’s reason for leaving the New Republic and forming the Resistance, stating that she insisted the First Order was a legitimate threat while many of her fellow politicians refused to see the truth.
An In-Universe Explanation for the Closing of the Star Wars Hotel is Provided
Eyes Like Stars focuses on a protagonist whose father owns a starliner company that travels the galaxy. At one point in the book, Sian refers to a “Chandrila Star Line,” which is a reference to the Halcyon starcruiser that was the narrative framing for Disney’s scrapped Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser hotel in Florida.
Interestingly, the novel offers an in-universe explanation for why the Halcyon starcruiser shut down as Ardent describes, “Rumor had it that they were about to close up shop due to budget cuts.”
The Ruins of Alderaan Have Become a Monument for the Deceased
By the time of the sequel trilogy, Alderaan is a tourist destination featuring a Monument to honor the planet’s deceased population. The debris field that the Death Star’s destruction of the planet left is referred to as “The Graveyard of Alderaan.” In the middle of the graveyard sits a space station cobbled together from misplaced pieces of junk from across the galaxy and bigger pieces salvaged from what remained of the Death Star after it exploded over Yavin 4. Around the Graveyard, different sectors try to revive aspects of Alderaan culture, including agriculture, music, and art.
In a stirring discussion at one point in the novel, Ardent defends Leia Organa’s name as detractors claim that she “should have stopped Grand Moff Tarkin then and there.” The individual notes, “This was her home, and she just watched.”
The book also reveals that Alderaanian culture was known for its poetry.
Tatooine and Geonosis Have Become Tourist Destinations
Tatooine is also a tourist destination by the time of the sequel trilogy. The cruise ship The Starfarer offers voyages to Tatooine where guests can “attend a tour of a moisture farm like the one Luke Skywalker grew up on.”
Tourists also visit Geonosis as it is the site of “three Clone War battlefields.” While safe in the years leading up to the sequel trilogy, Geonosis was the hiding spot for numerous Imperial officials following the Battle of Endor, before the New Republic “weeded them out.”
Luke, Han, and Leia Are Well-Known Celebrities
Princess Leia Organa is widely regarded as a celebrity throughout the galaxy at this point in canon. Characters offhandedly mention that a ship they see is the same kind of ship Leia used during the war.
Han Solo is also considered a celebrity. Sian and Ardent in the novel have a fun debate about how many parsecs Han was able to achieve the Kessel Run in, with Ardent insisting fourteen and Sian asserting twelve.
The story of young Luke Skywalker and his exploits in blowing up the first Death Star and trying to bring back the Jedi Order was “a story most everyone knew.” Luke, like Han and Leia, was a well-known celebrity and war hero following the Galactic Civil War.
The General Public’s Knowledge of Galactic History
Ardent mentions that “a Jedi headed the Jedi purge.” Given Ardent’s status as a civilian entirely uninvolved in broader galaxy-wide politics, this implies that it is common knowledge in Star Wars canon at this time that Anakin Skywalker was the one who lead the purge of the Jedi following Palpatine’s commissioning of Order 66.
Regular people refer to the war between the Rebel Alliance and Galactic Empire as “The Civil War.”
The Protagonist in Eyes Like Stars Parallels a Key Character from The High Republic
The book’s lead character Ardent Quay and her missing mother have the ability to astrogate. This is the ability to detect more reliable and safer hyperspace routes free of dangerous obstacles.
Mari San Tekka in The High Republic era was kidnapped and held by the Nihil as she had an innate ability, similar to Ardent and her mother, to calculate impossible paths to enable instant travel through unmapped hyperspace.
The Origins of Palpatine’s Great Sith Wars Sculpture
A conversation between Sian and Ardent in which Sian reveals what his mentor taught him about the Sith and the Jedi affirms that Palpatine kept a bas-relief in his office depicting an age-old battle beween the Jedi and the Sith. Jedi would pass the piece and not think anything of it, as depicted in the Star Wars prequel trilogy.
Sian discusses a rumor that the bas-relief was taken from a frieze found in a Sith temple on Malachor.
A Couple of Fun Attack of the Clones References
Ardent says, “Tatooine was no one’s vacation destination. First off, the sand went everywhere.” Of course, this is a reference to Anakin’s iconic monologue about sand in Attack of the Clones.
The romance serial that Ardent Quay is interested in features an assassin sneaking into a queen’s bedchambers. This mirrors what happened to Padmé in Attack of the Clones.
The Galaxy Pays Tribute to the People of Ghorman
The Ghorman Massacre, as depicted in Andor Season 2, is so well known throughout the galaxy that quiet mourning ceremonies take place to pay homage to the fallen people of Ghor and to learn about their rich culture.
Throughout the book, Sian and Ardent Quay are trying to return a lightsaber (which is eventually revealed to be a lightsaber once owned by Luke Skywalker) to its rightful home. At one point, Ardent senses that the lightsaber “wants to go home” and questions, “Did sabers have feelings?” This is an interesting tidbit as it suggests some kind of sentience of kyber crystals in that they possess an inherent knowledge of where they belong and don’t belong.
Eyes Like Stars is now available, courtesy of Random House Worlds
