Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: Force Collector Kindle Edition by Kevin Shinick

Force Collector is a trip around the universe checking in on past events, artifacts, and Jedi history. A survey course of Jedi lore! This book reminded me a lot of Claudia Gray’s Lost Stars. Whereas the characters in Gray’s novel live through the events in episode 4-6, Shinick’s main character, Karr Nuq Sinn, is a young man searching for the lost past, especially the remnants of the Jedi that Order 66 destroyed.

When Karr reaches adolescence he starts to experience scary spells where he sees powerful visions and frequently faints from the attacks. They occur anytime he touches something that is connected to Jedi history. He sees the destruction of the Death Star, the lightsabers of the Skywalkers, and the visions of Sifo-Dyas. Yet, to his classmates he is a freak, someone who is putting his faith in fairy tales. And even worse is that these spells bring on a decision is move Karr to a trade school… a path he has no interest in following.

There are two people in the world who support him: his grandmother and a new school friend named Maize. His grandmother sees the force inside of him and does as much as she can to help him direct his newfound power, but she passes before Karr can truly become skilled in his gift. Maize is a cocky young woman whose New Order father has moved her all around the galaxy, but she’s sick of it. Together, they escape to the stars to find evidence and the teachings of the Jedi.

Force Collector reads as a whos-who of the Jedi canon and a pretty good geography lesson to boot. Karr’s character obviously reinforces what was seen in the last scene of The Last Jedi. He’s a character who has no connection to the Skywalker family line and is lost without instruction of how to use his force talents, much like the kid on Canto Bight. The writing definitely has a YA feel to it, but that’s not a bad thing. I feel like this book could be a good introduction for a young person who is just getting into SW. Then he or she may want to figure out who and what all those references are.

Force Collector gets me fired up for The Rise of Skywalker.