68
The story of Ciena Ree and Thane Kyrell
Star Wars: Lost Stars
Author: Claudia Gray
Two young lovers from opposite sides of a war that has been tearing apart the galaxy, raised on the same planet but forbidden to love each other, reunite on the fiery bridge of an Imperial Star Destroyer as it races toward the surface of a planet. This spectacular and timeless moment is what Star Wars is made of and for. Good and evil battle, the fate of many hangs in the balance, but the focus is the individuals and their connections with those they love. It’s epic and grand. Truly fit for a saga of this scale. And it leaped off the pages of a so-called young adult novel in the early days of the new Star Wars canon. Arriving in 2015, Claudia Gray’s Lost Stars remains one of the best reads of the Star Wars saga as it stretched beyond its marketed reach to capture the hearts of fans everywhere.
Ciena Ree and Thane Kyrell are the Romeo and Juliet of Star Wars. No other way to look at it and, quite frankly, I wouldn’t want there to be. Born on the Outer Rim world of Jelucan, Ciena Ree grew up as a descendant of the First Wave of the planet’s colonizers. They are poor, working class, and looked down upon by the Second Wavers, which, of course, is how Thane Kyrell grew up. Naturally, they would meet as children, become friends and flight training partners, and go on to join the Imperial Academy to serve the government that took over their planet shortly after the fall of the Republic. From there, love should grow. Sweeping romance, especially sweeping forbidden romance, is a key ingredient to Star Wars. And the love of Ciena and Thane is sweeping indeed. Sweeping and surprisingly layered and complicated.
The real victory of Claudia Gray’s story is that it is set against the backdrop of the Galactic Civil War, the central conflict of this tale that we’ve all been studying since 1977 and makes us look at those events from a new angle. The book flies in and out of important moments in the original trilogy. Assigned to the Star Destroyer Devastator, Ciena Ree is part of the capture of Princess Leia’s ship and even watches (and doesn’t shoot) the escape pod carrying C-3PO and R2-D2. Thane Kyrell is part of the Imperial team that searches the alleged location of the Rebel base on Dantooine. And they both experience the shock of Alderaan’s destruction and the loss of the Death Star.
That is where the story really goes in an important direction. For the first time, we Star Wars fans—particularly the longtime ones—get to witness these iconic events through the eyes of those affected. It never shies away from the concept of the Empire as the source of oppression and evil in the galaxy. (It leans into it actually.) However, the Galactic Civil War’s bigger moments are able to be analyzed as never before as we explore these new points of view. The complete annihilation of Alderaan is abhorrent to our young Imperials, challenging and confusing, even if, like Ciena Ree, you initially buy into the Imperial talking point of doing it to prevent an all-out war. Then, when the Rebels and Luke Skywalker “save the day” and destroy the Death Star, we don’t just learn that nearly one million Imperials were killed “by terrorists” as some explicitly say, but we learn some of the names and faces. Ciena and Thane suffered personal losses on that day.
Yet the Civil War and the actions of the warring factions continue to affect our two lovers in different ways. The aristocratic Thane Kyrell finds the actions of the Empire despicable and joins the Rebellion just prior to the Battle of Hoth. Ciena Ree, perhaps finding some comfort in being on top of the power structure for once, remains conflicted but loyal to a regime she truly believes is bringing peace through order. They’re taken far apart from each other, on the opposite ends of a war that could very well find them facing off against each other.
The story continues to have some melodramatic fun ducking around the corners of the original trilogy. Events from The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi are told from the vantage point of Ciena and Thane. It’s fun and only occasionally veers into the Forrest Gump-like feeling of our characters being there for every big moment. But all of this leads up to the grand finale. Love and war amongst the chaos of the Battle of Jakku.
Thane is sent to infiltrate and take over the Imperial Star Destroyer Inflictor under the command of—but of course—Ciena Ree. Learning of a breach in the ship, Ciena evacuates her crew and decides to crash her ship to keep it out of the hands of the Rebels. This leads to the moment this entire story has built to. Long-lost lovers and friends on opposite sides come face-to-face as their lives are about to end. It’s powerful, tear-jerking, and downright pulpy, Shakespearean fun. Star-crossed Star Wars love indeed.
The true end result is that the bar was set early for all subsequent Star Wars novels. The fandom was absolutely smitten with this story. (It is still the novel I suggest new readers start with.) What Claudia Gray managed to do was not only create memorable new characters that inspired and connected with fans, she was also able to take our view of Star Wars, specifically the beloved original trilogy, and present to us all a new and thought-provoking perspective. There had already been some solid new Star Wars novels by this point, but when Thane Kyrell leaned his battered forehead against Ciena Ree inside a decimated escape pod on the war-torn surface of Jakku, we all realized what we were expecting to read going forward: new answers to old questions about good, evil, war, and the love that rises above it all.