Star Wars: Legacy Review – An Essential Rey and Leia Spotlight
Star Wars books tend to come in two types: the side adventures, following new characters and stories unrelated to the movies, and the “in-betweenquel,” the little side adventures bridging the gaps between movies. Those “in-betweenquels” have two types too: the fun little side-adventures that don’t really matter in the larger scheme of things, like all those times people went to Galaxy’s Edge, and the books that get to tell real meaningful stories that enhance the works around them. Much like how The Clone Wars makes every moment of Revenge of the Sith that bit more meaningful, Legacy is a perfect example of one of those stories, bridging the gap between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker in a way that enhances those stories while telling a meaningful one of its own.
The “bridge” books often work best for me when the central story is something that feels obvious in hindsight as an essential tale that I want to learn while not being my first thought. Legacy captures this perfectly, as we follow Rey’s attempts to repair the Kyber crystal of the Skywalker lightsaber after it was damaged aboard the Supremacy, torn apart as she and Kylo Ren struggled for control over it. Desperate for any clue in the ancient Jedi texts she “borrowed” from Ahch-To, Rey heads to Tython, a planet steeped in Jedi lore, to search for a forge. She’s accompanied by Leia, who is struggling to connect with Rey as a mentor in order to pass on her limited Jedi knowledge, and our familiar, lovable Falcon crew of Chewie, C-3PO, and R2-D2. For those hoping to see any more of the other Resistance members, you’ll get a few crumbs at the beginning with Rose, Finn, and Poe (and a few other small surprises), but ultimately this book is focused on Rey and Leia. This book is also essential reading for any fans of Lieutenant Ko Connix (played in the movies by Billie Lourd, Carrie Fisher’s daughter), who may be the strangest person alive.
Legacy is a storied title in the Star Wars world, having been the name of the long-running Dark Horse comic series in the old Legends days. At first I was a little sceptical of the decision to reuse that name, not just because Legends fans are famously really normal about that sort of thing, but also because it’s a somewhat generic “requel-era” name. Ultimately there is no better word to capture this book than “legacy” – it runs through all the protagonists’ stories and is key to them all.
Aside from Rey and Leia, Star Wars: Legacy has two other protagonists. Gavrin is an attempted assassin on the run from the First Order for trying to kill the Major responsible for destroying his homeworld, Hays Minor, which is also the home of Rose and Paige Tico. We also follow that Major, Brilla Wolstenholme, who some may recognise from the Rose Tico one-shot comic, who is trying to hunt down Gavrin and the other attempted assassins, despite the First Order’s reluctance to let her dig deeper. Each of our four protagonists is united by one shared thing: they are all haunted by Kylo Ren. He was the one who disrupted the attempt on Major Wolstenholme’s life, saving her and nearly killing Gavrin in the process, and this near-death experience has consumed them both by the time we meet them.
Gavrin, alongside his friend and co-conspirator Ziff, begins the book consumed by a need for revenge for his people and himself, concerned about nothing but completing his mission and killing Wolstenholme with no regard for his own life. His arc feels reminiscent of Finn’s in The Last Jedi, as his time spent alongside Rey and Leia pushes him to discover his real purpose and push past the hate that has consumed him. His story entwines with Rey and Leia’s beautifully, showing how the power of the Jedi can extend so much beyond wielding a lightsaber and that it lies not in lightsabers and telekinesis, but in the compassion that they wield.
Our other protagonist, Wolstenholme, is one of the weaker aspects of the book. Her story serves somewhat as a mirror to Gavrin’s, showing how isolation can leave you festering in your darker feelings with no way out, and how giving in to those darker impulses — seeking and achieving revenge — does little to heal your wounds. Unfortunately, this story is largely told through a parallel but almost entirely separate story from our other three protagonists, leaving it to often feel like it breaks the flow of the story, especially in the first half. The conspiracy that Wolstenholme uncovers does become genuinely interesting by the end, but unfortunately it takes a little too long and is so separate from the main narrative that it feels inessential and tacked on at times.
Legacy struggles in its first half a little with pacing, more specifically its second quarter after the heroes have received their call to action and travelled to Tython. As mentioned, the plot revolves around exploration of a temple on Tython, which Rey believes to be a forge that can help her repair the damaged Kyber crystal. Exploring that temple is a great dive into the two characters’ interiority and their relationship to the Force, but it’s very stop-start at times, taking breaks to spend more time with the small Church of the Force group that also arrived on Tython. There are a lot of great moments there too, of course; that aspect of the book is essential to the emotional climaxes of the book, but the poor pacing leaves that section of the book moving at a slog at times. Thankfully, the back half is a breeze in comparison, even incorporating the Wolstenholme chapters in a way that doesn’t disrupt the flow and left me not wanting to put the book down.
The real stars of the book are, of course, Rey and Leia, making up the majority of the viewpoint chapters, and Madeleine Roux excels at writing them both together and separately. Rey has long been my favourite of the Sequel trio, and Roux does such an interesting deep dive into her strengths, her flaws, and where they come from. While Rey’s independence is shown frequently in the movies as a strength, Legacy dives into the negatives of that as she struggles to lean on those around her, exploring how her solitary lifestyle led her to be this way without relying on heavy flashbacks.
Rey’s key struggle throughout the book is the trauma from the events of The Last Jedi — her encounter with Kylo Ren, her failure to pull him away from the dark, and her fear of her temptation to join him — all of which is compounded by the words of Luke Skywalker: “You went straight to the dark… you didn’t even try to stop yourself.” These words, more than any of Kylo’s, are what hold Rey back, as she is repeatedly haunted by visions of both Kylo and the dark vision of herself we glimpse briefly in The Rise of Skywalker. Recontextualising that “Dark Rey” not as a single vision brought up by her Palpatine heritage, but as an ongoing struggle with the darkness inside herself, is a great choice. While I have never agreed with criticisms of Rey’s character that she has no flaws, Legacy completely shuts that down, highlighting them in a way that allows Rey to both overcome them and learn to live with them.
Leia’s limited role in The Rise of Skywalker is one of its greatest weaknesses, a side effect of Carrie Fisher’s tragic passing and the decision to shape her role solely around unused footage from the previous two sequels. It was a lose-lose situation, but it’s nice to finally have a story that feels like it truly honours Leia in her role as both Rey’s master and as an almost-Jedi. With The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi taking place mere moments apart, it’s easy to forget how little Rey and Leia actually know each other, and Roux takes advantage of this unfamiliarity as the two struggle to fully connect, largely because of their unspoken relationships with Ben Solo. Rey is haunted by him and her temptation to join him, and seeing Leia as a constant reminder of her son only pushes her further into her solitary nature. On the other hand, Leia feels guilt over what her son has become, and on the Force-heavy planet of Tython finds herself consumed by dreams of a world that could have been, one in which she stayed with her training and raised and trained her son alongside Luke. Only by accepting her reality can she move ahead and truly commit herself to her role as Rey’s master, but she must also convince Rey to accept that help, as both must learn that while Leia’s Jedi training is limited, there is much she has to teach Rey to help her be a Jedi.
This is the first time we really get to dig into Rey’s relationship to the Jedi Order too. The comics do a great job of showing Luke slowly learning through stolen fragments of knowledge, and although we get to see the same here with Rey, she also has the key difference of coming so close to an actual master. Rey also has the additional burden of the entire Jedi Order, something never really pushed on Luke till after he had defeated the Empire, and we begin to see Rey considering what that would mean to her, and how she sees the previous orders of many eras as having failed. I know Lucasfilm won’t explore it further till the movies begin to touch on it, but I’d love to see further work from Roux on Rey building that new order.
Star Wars: Legacy is an essential read for Sequel fans, especially Rey fans, and I think would go a long way to turning those who aren’t fans too. While nothing could truly fix the disjointed relationship between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker, Legacy gives a whole new appreciation to both. My love for Rey has only deepened, and it’s great to have a true spotlight on the Rey/Leia relationship, cementing them both as master and apprentice and a family.
Star War: Legacy releases July 28th 2026
