REVIEW: ‘The Rise And Fall Of The Galactic Empire’ Is The Most Important ‘Star Wars’ Novel
- Alex Batts
- 4 hours ago
- 3 min read
Star Wars has an extensive publishing history. The Star Wars library is full of books that take place in myriad eras and expand the Galaxy Far, Far Away. From novelizations of mainline movies to video game tie-ins to standalone stories, if there is an area of Star Wars that you're interested in, chances are a book of it exists. Fans will cite a variety of titles as their favorites, and many books released in the Star Wars canon (both Legends and current Canon) are incredibly influential to the mythos. However, none carry as much impact or feel as important as The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire by Dr. Chris Kempshall.
The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire is presented as an in-universe history book on the reign and defeat of the titular antagonist in Star Wars. Dr. Chris Kempshall is a historian with a focus on the First World War and the portrayal of history and war in modern media. His academic background is felt prominently throughout the novel and lends a necessary weight to the topic. The text feels like a history book, with the breadth and depth that such subject matter deserves. Kempshall pulls from all corners of the Star Wars mythos to paint a full picture of the Imperial Machine.
This book is exceptional in both conception and execution. Establishing itself as an in-universe text offers an added layer of experience and encourages an authorial voice to shine through. Kempshall makes the author a researcher of the Resistance and sets the book shortly after the defeat of the First/Final Order on Exegol. This gives readers context and perspective as the book dives headfirst into the machinations of the Empire.
The text goes into great detail, exploring key aspects of the Empire. It's broken into parts detailing its rise and consolidation, expansion and oppression, the Galactic Civil War, and its fall and continuation. While the exhaustive research done here to give readers a full grasp on how the Empire came to be, how it operated, and how it fell is impressive, these are not the book's true strength.
The true strength of The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire comes from how it can mirror our own world. Evil empires, hateful rhetoric, and fascist regimes are not ideals that exist in a vacuum in a fictional galaxy far, far away. They are real, and they are terrifying. This book is an attack and a warning. Its thesis is education and prevention. It uses the lens of Star Wars to explore the painfully real avenues through which fascism takes root in a society. It elaborates on how easy it is to let things slip through the cracks, for hate and acquiescence to fester.
It wants the reader to truly understand how a governing body as evil as the Galactic Empire, led by a cackling megalomaniac, can come into power. It wants the reader to understand how, all along the way, it can seem "not that bad" until it's too late. Until the vices of oppression are bound so tightly that violent revolution is the only possible answer. The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire wants to illuminate these problems so the reader can recognize them and act in defiance. It refuses to let the mistakes of the past be constantly repeated, a doomed record player running on a loop.
The specific atrocities described in these pages may have been committed by a fictional Empire, but they have echoes in our world. Heinous crimes perpetrated by perversions of power are not relegated to Star Wars. This book implores readers to examine the institutions and world around them. It emphasizes education and empathy. Yes, The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire is about Star Wars, but it's also about our own history. It's about our own tendencies to let our worst impulses overcome what we can be. It shouts that we can and should do better. It's an excellent Star Wars novel, but above all, it's an outstanding work dedicated to demystifying the pillars of fascism.
The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire is one of the best Star Wars novels you can read, but its impact bursts beyond the borders of the Galaxy Far, Far Away.
