Book Review: Star Wars - Catalyst (A Rogue One Novel)

The great thing about Star Wars is it’s near limitless potential. This galaxy far, far away spans across several eras of time and is capable of telling an unprecedented number of stories.  Those stories can revolve around Jedi’s fighting for peace and order, a band of rebels taking up arms against an oppressive Imperial regime or even a ragtag bunch of droids getting lost in space.  My point is Star Wars has a very rare ability to tell any kind of story it likes while still being intrinsically based within the confines of its extensive lore. While the movies have taken great pride in telling stories based on action and adventure, I’ve found myself beginning to develop a considerable appreciation for the darker narratives the series has chosen to tell.  With the booming success of the Andor TV show, I realize Star Wars is capable of going to some truly serious places and the end result is some of the better stories the franchise has to claim.  After finishing my run of Andor and Rogue One, I wanted to conclude my time with this era of Star Wars by reading the prequel novel to Rogue One by James Luceno, titled Catalyst.

Set initially during the final days of the Clone Wars, the story of Catalyst follows the early rise of the Galactic Empire as they seek to push all their resources into developing an orbital space station with the capability of destroying entire planets in hopes of quickly dispatching any potential uprisings.  Entrusted by Emperor Palpatine with this task, Lieutenant Commander Orson Krennic sets about on achieving this colossal undertaking by enlisting the aid of an old friend by the name of Galen Erso.  Galen, an extraordinary scientist who specializes in the field of energy, along with his wife Lyra agree to work for Krennic under the impression they are helping on a project which will bring unlimited energy production to the whole galaxy, unaware of Krennic’s ulterior intentions for his research and breakthroughs.  Meanwhile, Krennic also sets about a deceitful plan to utilize a smuggler ring led by a Dressellian smuggler by the name of Captain Has Obitt to lay claim to a number of resource-rich planets for the Death Star project.  What follows is a period of lies, deception and betrayals as Krennic’s plans unfold with dangerous consequences for all involved.

On the whole, the stakes of this narrative are clearly reserved for the Rogue One movie. There’s a reason it’s literally titled a Rogue One story, as its primary purpose is to serve as a substantial backdrop to the events of the movie in which the Death Star is near completion.  Taking that into consideration, it’s easy to feel Catalyst has little to offer besides exposition.  I don’t see that as a dismissal of the book’s overall quality though.  The intrigue behind Krennic’s ploys and the people he manipulates is what makes this such a compelling book to read.  Krennic as a character is one of the better examples of the fundamental identity of the Empire, his ambition to succeed and consolidate more rank and power for himself is what drives this narrative forward.  Equally however, seeing the impact his ruthless actions have on people like Galen, Lyra and Has Obitt is also a key part of the narrative.  I love how much this story fleshes out Galen and Lyra as individuals, you really get a sense of understanding behind the tragedy of their great intellect being used for an unfathomable evil throughout the course of the story. 

Like Andor, this book takes a big approach to small elements of the Star Wars universe. The rise of the Empire and the fascist ideals it unleashes onto a post-war galaxy isn’t something you really got to see until these properties came around.  Seeing how Lyra and Galen eventually come to realize they’re being manipulated and how that reckons with their own ideals is some truly well-written stuff. I’ve not read any of James Luceno’s work before this book, but it’s easy to see he has a quality to writing people and defining their deeper characteristics. It’s an incredible contrast too, as the story shares its perspective between Krennic and the Erso’s almost equally, so you get a thorough understanding of the clear difference in perspective these people share on the same horrifying events taking place.

The story wouldn’t work nearly as well if it wasn’t for the serious tone.  As I mentioned at the start of the review, Star Wars is capable of being many things, but it’s most commonly associated with adventure and action.  There’s nothing wrong with that, but when we’re talking about a period of Star Wars history in which the Empire is told to be dictatorial and downright evil, it’s important to set the story in a world which reflects that.  This story isn’t told on the front lines of a major battle however, it’s told from the confines of a desk, or a laboratory, or an Imperial evaluation committee.  The thematic weight of its story is told in its dialogue and its characters.  Seeing the emotional core of the story through Galen or Lyra’s struggle with the conspiracy they are trying to break from is made even more impactful because we see how coldly detached Krennic and the rest of the Empire is when facing the same dilemmas.

Catalyst may not be for everyone and that’s fair.  I would agree it’s more of an extended character piece than an actual story, in which the payoff is reserved for another property altogether.  If you can look past that however, Catalyst actually holds some really captivating written work within its pages.  The way this story is able to define so much of the struggle we see in Galen Erso or the cold calculation behind Orson Krennic when we see them in Rogue One shows that it does its job superbly in giving these characters an exceptional story to define them through.