SPOILER FREE
Guardians of the Whills is a junior novel, Written by New York Times Best Selling Author, Greg Rucka. He’s a comic book writer and has written other books for Star Wars such as Before the Awakening.
Summary: Chirrut Îmwe and Baze Malbus where Guardians of the Whills at the Kyber Temple in the holy city of Jedah, then the Empire came. Some had abandoned their faith, fled the city, or even became a thorn in the empires side. The more the citizens stood up against the Empire, the tighter their imperial grip became.
In this tale, Chirrut and Baze take it upon themselves to take care of a local orphanage. They steal from the empire and give to the children; food and medicine. They are approached by some individuals and are asked to join a local resistance group against the empire. Turns out, this group is lead by Saw Gerrera.
Chirrut and Baze do what they believe is the right thing to do, take care of the orphanage… and fight the Empire.
Characters: Chirrut Îmwe and Baze Malbus were Guardians of the Whills at the Kyber Temple. They are both honorable and humble.
Chirrut’s faith remains strong. His senses are in overdrive, making up for his blindness. He’s focused and calm.
Baze’s faith is lost. He’s angry at what has come of his home. He puts up a good fight and prefers a big gun.
Overall Thoughts: The story was well told. Rucka certainly captured the voice of each character we saw in Rogue One. However, toward the end of the book, their voices shifted a bit, not really coming across as they do in the film. Jedda felt like a war zone, it was set up nicely. I was very disappointed that we didn’t get to really see what the Guardians of the Whills actually means… what they were like in their prime. It’s the books title, but it’s all during the imperial rule.
Rating: I give this book a 2.5 out of 5