Format: Kindle, 288 pages
Release Date: October 10, 2023
Publisher: Disney Lucasfilm Press
Source: Publisher
Genre: Young Adult / Science Fiction / Space Opera
New York Times bestselling author E. K. Johnston, author of
the Queens series starring Padmé Amidala, brings fans an untold story
about Qi'ra, portrayed by Emilia Clarke in Star Wars: A Solo Story.
Not everyone gets to be the hero.
Qi’ra
listened to the dreams and promises of a boy with a reckless smile,
only to be torn away from him and returned to the White Worms gang while
Han made his way to freedom. Now freedom seems like a luxury she can’t
afford while she concentrates on survival and despairs of ever leaving
Corellia. But her fortunes seem to turn when a representative of the
crime syndicate Crimson Dawn plucks Qi’ra from captivity and brings her
to the syndicate’s leader, the mysterious and mercurial Dryden Vos. Vos
offers Qi’ra an opportunity she’s never had before: the chance to build
something resembling a comfortable life if she can prove her worth to
his organization. With failure meaning certain death, Qi’ra knows she
must immerse herself in the merciless, murderous world of Crimson Dawn.
What she doesn’t know is just who she will be if she survives. . .
E.K. Johnson's Crimson Climb is a book in the Star Wars Disney Cannon series. This story focuses on Qi’ra who has become an important character in Marvel Comics’ Star Wars, appearing in the flagship Star Wars title as well as the smash hit comics miniseries War of the Bounty Hunters, and is currently headlining Crimson Dawn. This has revived interest in the character and fans have expressed a desire for her to have her own novel. This is the story about how Qi'Ra came to rise up so quickly in the ranks of the Crimson Dawn, and how she ended up with Dryden Vos.
Qi’ra listened to the dreams and promises of a boy with a reckless
smile (Han Solo), only to be torn away from him and returned to the White Worms
gang controlled by Proxima while Han made his way to freedom vowing to return which he eventually did, but that's another story. Now freedom seems like a luxury
she can’t afford while she concentrates on survival and despairs of ever
leaving Corellia. While Qi'ra holds good memories of Han, including his dice, she once more has to prove herself to Proxima and the other children who Proxima uses to build her power base.
Qi'ra lived an even more difficult life after being captured again by Proxima's gang. The blistered Proxima was displeased of her actions, opting to sell Qi'ra away when a representative of the crime syndicate Crimson Dawn plucks Qi’ra from captivity and brings her to the syndicate’s leader, the mysterious and mercurial Dryden Vos. Vos offers Qi’ra an opportunity she’s never had before: the chance to build something resembling a comfortable life if she can prove her worth to his organization. With failure meaning certain death, Qi’ra knows she must immerse herself in the merciless, murderous world of Crimson Dawn.
What she doesn’t know is just who she will be if she survives, she will later learn who actually controls Crimson Dawn. A man called Darth Maul who faced Obi Wan and was left for dead. This novel perfectly picks up the pieces of Qi'ra's story to give a full and grand look into her ascension within the underworld to the eventual leader of the Crimson Dawn crime syndicate to when she later becomes known as The Lady. Qi’ra’s story features touch points and connections to various other Star Wars storytelling, including Clone Wars & Solo, making it feel an integral part of the greater whole.
*Thoughts* As reference, Qi'ra first appeared in the 2018 film Solo: A Star Wars Story portrayed by English actress Emilia Clarke who people know from Game of Thrones. Dryden Vos is the main antagonist of the 2018 sci-fi film Solo: A Star Wars Story. He and Qi'ra worked under Maul's (Darth Maul, the red, horned, Dathomirian Sith lord from The Phantom Menace) directive to grow Crimson Dawn into the most powerful of the Five Crime Syndicates.
I have been almost a faithful fan of the Star Wars movies and even some of the books since the very first movie was made, and then remade. I was shocked when Lucas sold the franchise to Disney which turned it upside down, and pretty much destroyed what I hoped would be a continuation of story lines that made the franchise so popular. One of the things this story is not about is a Jedi knight or those fighting against the Empire or Imperial Stormtroopers. This is a story about a teenaged girl who quickly rises up through the ranks of a criminal empire who was helping the Galactic Empire who for reason that eludes me, still found a way to help Han out when things were looking bad for him.
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