21 Star Wars Books You Should Read

Cover of A New Dawn by John Jackson Miller. Image via publisher Del Rey

4. A New Dawn

According to author John Jackson Miller, this book is the very first to have gotten input by the Lucasfilm Story Group, which means that it was specifically designed to fit together with the canon as we now know it.

In particular, A New Dawn serves as an excellent entry point into the novels for fans of Star Wars Rebels. Why? Because it’s a straight-up prequel to that series, featuring Kanan Jarrus and Hera Syndulla meeting and teaming up for the first time.

A revolution has already started brewing on the mining planet of Gorse, and Kanan finds himself there. Hera, too, has arrived to keep an eye on the Imperial Count Vidian.

The events of this novel take place about six years before Rebels and eight years after Revenge of the Sith. As previously stated, this novel also gets sold as part of The Rise of the Empire omnibus, which includes a few bonus short stories.

Goodreads praises it for doing a good job in establishing the newly-rebooted Star Wars universe. It also gets points for feeling relatively modern.

You can, obviously, pair it with Tarkin, and the omnibus’ existence makes it look like a clear choice. However, you can also read it in between watching Rebels, or even before starting Rebels.