Star Wars sequel trilogy finally makes sense, thanks to this prequel

Star Wars fans are finally making sense of the sequel trilogy, after a new book release has explained some inconsistencies.

The Star Wars sequel trilogy was a bit of a mixed bag for fans. The Force Awakens was received well, despite some criticisms that it was essentially a remake of A New Hope.

Then there was The Last Jedi, which was incredibly divisive for a variety of reasons (though, we know it’s great).

Finally, The Rise of Skywalker tried to please everyone but ended up a confused mismash of undeveloped storylines and disconnected sequences.

In the end, whether you love or hate the movies there’s this nagging feeling that the trilogy is just far too inconsistent to be an interesting story.

Thankfully, a Star Wars book has sought to remedy this sour taste by explaining some of the inconsistencies in the sequel trilogy, particularly The Rise of Skywalker.

Released last year by Dorling Kindersley, Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire is an in-universe historical novel written by Dr. Chris Kempshall that aims to fill in an entire historical backdrop of the Empire, the First Order, and Palpatine.

It’s written like an actual historical novel would be written in our world, similar to if someone was doing a biography on World War II and the rise of Nazi Germany.

What’s also interesting about it is the fact that Dr. Kempshall is a real historian who specialises in the history of war and its representation in popular media. Sounds like the perfect fit for a book like this.

As pointed out by Reddit user codingsoft, the book also explains some motivations for Palpatine, particularly how he managed to return in The Rise of Skywalker.

“Not only did he want to rule the galaxy, he wanted to rule forever, so his ventures into immortality make complete sense for the premise of Episode IX,” writes the post. “He was so obsessed with immortality that he managed to get Anakin obsessed with it too, leading to his downfall in trying to save Padmé.”

Another user replied: “I might be mistaken, but this is what I got from the ‘Darth Plagueis’ anecdote: Trying to cheat death and live / rule over the rest forever is THE Sith-thing so to speak. Whereas the Jedi-thing is to accept transience (i.e. form no attachments) and the right of everyone to exist in peace.”

“Personally I don't even think that's anywhere near the strongest aspect of this book,” wrote a third user.

“If you were to go through and highlight every sentence, every paragraph that hits a little too close to home or parallels something that is currently going on in our world right now, the whole book would be bright yellow.”

It’s a good pickup for any Star Wars fans who are also avid readers. However, it will keep reminding you that The Rise of Skywalker was a thing, so be warned.