Lost Stars Lost Stars is a young - adult canon novel written by Claudia Gray . It was first published in hardcover by Disney – Lucasfilm Press on September 4 , 2015 , as part of the book series . A paperback edition was released in the United Kingdom by Egmont UK Ltd on October 8 , 2015 . The American paperback was released on August 1 , 2017 . This edition includes the first chapter of the novel " Leia , Princess of Alderaan " , also written by Gray . Publisher ' s summary . " The reign of the Galactic Empire has reached the Outer Rim planet of Jelucan , where aristocratic Thane Kyrell and rural villager Ciena Ree bond over their love of flying . Enrolling at the Imperial Academy together to become fighter pilot s for the glorious Empire is nothing less than a dream come true for the both of them . But Thane sours on the dream when he sees firsthand the horrific tactics the Empire uses to maintain its ironclad rule . " " Bitter and disillusioned , Thane joins the fledgling Rebellion — putting Ciena in an unbearable position to choose between her loyalty to the Empire and her love for the man she ' s known since childhood . " " Now on opposite sides of the war , will these friends turned foes find a way to be together , or will duty tear them — and the galaxy — apart ? " Plot summary . The story begins in 11 BBY on the Outer Rim planet of Jelucan . It has recently been annexed by the Galactic Empire and many of the planet ' s inhabitants are making their way to the capitol for an Imperial ceremony celebrating this event . Two children , Thane Kyrell and Ciena Ree , are traveling to the ceremony with their families . Ciena ' s family lives out in the valleys with a group known as the First Wavers who are a simple , hardworking people who are descended from the original colonists of the planet . They have a very strong code of honor and use very little in the way of technology . Thane ’ s family is part of the second wave of colonists who tend to be more affluent and live in the cities . Second Wavers and Valley Kindred tend to be at odds with each other and don ’ t get along well . Despite their different backgrounds , both children are fascinated with ships and flying . They both notice the same " Lambda " - class shuttle flying toward the ceremony grounds . It turns out this shuttle is carrying Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin , who officiates the ceremony . While the people of Jelucan look on , both Thane and Ciena sneak away to check out ships . They separately come upon the shuttle behind a security cordon . They are not alone ; a group of older second wave boys see Ciena and begin berating her for being from the valley . Thane , despite being a second waver himself , defends Ciena , engaging the older boys in a fight . Ciena joins him . Before things get out of hand , the fight is interrupted by Tarkin and his entourage . The boys take off but Thane and Ciena remain behind . Instead of punishing them , Tarkin questions them . Finding out they were merely interested in the ship , he quizzes them and comes to realize the children are bright . He invites them into the shuttle where they continue to impress by identifying the controls . Tarkin gives them a speech about the glory of serving the Empire and the possibility that one day they themselves could pilot a shuttle or even command a Star Destroyer for the Empire . This sets the two children on a new life ' s mission : to attend an Imperial Academy and become officers in the Imperial Navy . Five years later , Thane and Ciena have become good friends and flight partners despite their families disliking each other . They train on Thane ' s brother ' s ship , which sits unused since he went off to the academy himself . Over the next few years , the two train together whenever they can , helping one another and continuing to become an inseparable team . When Thane hits his physical limits , Ciena is there to encourage him . When Ciena struggles in her studies , Thane works with her . All this work pays off and the two of them are assigned to the most prestigious school : the Imperial Academy on Coruscant . They arrive together but are soon separated during indoc . They are assigned rooms and quickly make friends with their new roommates . They soon reunite at a reception for new cadets . Along with their new friends , Thane and Ciena excel at the Academy , often competing for first in their classes . As time passes , they continue to be close friends . However , they also begin to notice their feelings for each other are developing into more . Thane notices the grubby valley girl he grew up with has become a very attractive young woman . Ciena has her own feelings for Thane but is confused and conflicted by them . They continue to lead their cohort in performance until a few years into their academy careers . The group is partaking in an exercise where they build laser cannon s from spare parts . Ciena ' s works well but Thane ' s fails to power on . The instructor soon discovers it has been sabotaged . Inexplicably , the evidence points to Ciena as the culprit . Ciena ' s roommate Jude does her own independent investigation and concludes that Thane sabotaged his own cannon . With insufficient evidence either way , no one is expelled but both of them fail the assignment . This drops them from their top spots in the class . They both approach Jude to continue her investigation into who sabotaged Thane ’ s cannon . She concludes it was the Academy itself . Politics and corruption in the ranks are to blame . Thane and Ciena get into a huge fight about whether or not they should do anything about it . Thane insists they do , but Ciena ' s sense of honor and loyalty gets in the way . Thane storms off . Two and a half years pass and the two continue competing , climbing the ranks again to the top of the cohort . However their competition is no longer friendly . They no longer interact socially and drift apart in many ways . Thane begins to become somewhat disenfranchised with the Empire while Ciena becomes even more loyal . They are assigned to different specializations as they approach the end of their time at the Academy , Thane to Elite Flight and Ciena to Command . This causes them to see each other even less . Despite the distance though , they can ' t shake the lifelong connection they have . As graduation approaches , the top students are invited to attend a ball at the Imperial Palace . Naturally , Thane and Ciena are selected . They reconnect at the ball and begin to reconcile . With their friendship re - established , Thane sees an opportunity to take things further . He holds back , though , not wanting to risk their fragile relationship . They are simply glad to be friends again . After graduation , Ciena is assigned to the Star Destroyer " Devastator " while Thane is assigned to a classified battle station as a TIE fighter pilot . They go their separate ways but promise to see each other as soon as possible . They part with a kiss on the cheek . A few weeks later , Ciena take part in the capture of the " Tantive IV " . She observes an empty escape pod launch from the ship toward the desert planet below . The " Devastator ' s " next stop is the Death Star . When Ciena learns this she contacts Thane who is now stationed there . They are excited to see each other . Before they can meet , Alderaan is destroyed . They both watch it happen . Thane ' s TIE squadron is sent to Dantooine to investigate the Rebel Alliance base that is reportedly there . Upon seeing the abandoned base , he finally realizes the Rebel Alliance is not a disorganized rabble as he ’ s been told . They are organized and well equipped . His faith in the Empire continues to falter . On the " Devastator " , Ciena sees the data feeds from the Death Star go dark . While her superiors deny it , she knows the station and all her academy friends aboard it are likely dead . This was confirmed when she was ordered to escort Lord Vader from his TIE fighter back to the " Devastator " , as well as to scout out the wreckage of the Death Star to confirm whether or not it was truly gone , the ensuing wreckage and mangled metal was the only view she could see for miles around . She had confirmation that her friend Jude was dead , this fear was intensified by the aura of Darth Vader and the wheezing noise of his respirator apparatus , her fear was so great that she had been frozen stiff in her place . Berisse Sai had tried to ease her fear by joking that , " " He ' s " " a bit tense in person the first time meeting him . " " Her pain and woe of the loss of her friend Jude was eased by her new found friend , Berisse , the faltering loyalty to the Empire was added onto when the Imperial news had reported that the Death Star had " " been damaged by Rebel forces . " " Thane ' s squadron returns to the fleet from Dantooine where he meets Ciena . She thought he had died on the Death Star . They share their first kiss only to have Thane ship out to a garrison on the spice world of Kerev Doi . It is here that Thane has enough . After witnessing the maltreatment of Bodach ' i slaves , Thane ' s disillusionment reaches its crescendo and he realizes that he needs to get out . He calls Ciena and they have a serious talk . They cannot say what they really think due to monitoring by the Imperial Security Bureau , but they both leave the conversation knowing what they need to do . Thane believes they both agree to desert at the first opportunity whereas Ciena believe that they agree to stick to their oaths and serve , trying to fix the Empire from the inside . Thane deserts and returns to Jelucan . Ciana volunteers to go find him . In the wake of the Death Star , the Empire will welcome him back without punishment . She finds him and their misunderstanding comes to light . Ciena pleads with him to return and he refuses . She realizes this is likely the last time she will see him and they finally make love . After the act , they finally profess their love for each other and realize they need to part ways . Ciena tells Thane to get off the planet as she will report him as AWOL after a week . Despite this threat , she ends up returning to the " Devastator " and reporting Thane dead . Eighteen months after the destruction of the Death Star , Thane meets with Rebel pilot Wedge Antilles on a supply run . After a long night of drinking and talking , Thane is convinced the Rebellion is his best way to fight the tyranny of the Empire . While he does not believe in their high - minded ideals , it seems like the best course of action . At the same time , Ciena is transferred to the Super Star Destroyer " Executor " when Darth Vader transfers his flag to the new ship . She is aboard when the probe droid locates the Rebel base on Hoth . Thane , now a Rebel , is stationed there . He flies a snowspeeder and , after the Battle of Hoth , escapes to the rendezvous point in his X - wing . As he leaves Hoth , he sees the Imperial fleet and realizes that one day he might encounter Ciena in battle and unknowingly kill her . After being ordered to coordinate the TIEs chasing the " Millennium Falcon " through the asteroid field , Ciena goes off duty and studies the battle tapes from Hoth . Here she recognizes Thane ' s flying and realizes that he has joined the Rebellion . As the Empire chases the " Falcon " to Cloud City on Bespin , Ciena is charged with leading a team to sabotage the ship ' s hyperdrive . She does so , but it is later repaired and the " Falcon " escapes . Ciena is convinced she will be killed for her failure , but Vader simply walks off . Back on Jelucan , Ciena ' s mother is accused of embezzling money from the mine at which she is a supervisor . Ciena knows this is impossible and requests leave to stand with her mother in the tradition of her people . She arrives to find no one standing in support of her mother except Thane . From his perspective , he returns to support her , but also in an effort to get over her . He feels meeting her again will prove to him the Empire has destroyed the good person she was . This turns out not to be the case , though their reunion is strained . Thane convinces Ciena to go flying with her like they used to . They do and realize nothing has changed between them , except they are on opposite sides of a war . They return to the fortress , their secret childhood hangout near Thane ' s parents hangar . There they have a heated exchange and then make love a second time . Thane tries to recruit her into the Rebellion and fails . Ciena believes that if all the good people leave the Empire then they will be worse off . Thane leaves Jelucan while he can . Ciena ' s mother is found guilty and sentenced to hard labour . Ciena returns to the fleet after realizing that she could not defend her mother without giving up her career in the Imperial Navy . Some time later , the " Executor " arrives at the second Death Star . Ciena has very mixed feelings about the fact they created another one . Meanwhile , Thane prepares for the impending Battle of Endor . Two days later , Ciena participates in what she thinks is a practice TIE scramble . It turns out it is the Battle of Endor . Ciena is caught in the blast wave from the station and her TIE is destroyed . Thane celebrates the Rebellion ' s victory over the Empire on Endor . It turns out Ciena survived , but was impaled by debris . She is forced onto medical leave . Over this time , the New Republic establishes a provisional council and the galaxy begins to change . Ciena is soon cleared for duty , is promoted to captain and given command of her own Star Destroyer , the " Inflictor " , at the young age of 25 . As she takes command , she is ordered to partake in what will be a major battle between the Empire and the New Republic above the desert world of Jakku . Meanwhile , Thane and Corona Squadron are given orders to board and attempt to capture Imperial ships as the Republic needs to bolster its fleet . Thane and his team end up on the " Inflictor " . The Empire is losing the Battle of Jakku and the " Inflictor " is taking heavy damage . Ciena realizes her ship is being boarded and sets the self destruct . It turns out it has been disabled by the Rebel boarders . She locks herself on the bridge and sets the ship on a collision course with Jakku . After her announcement , Thane realizes her plan , breaks onto the bridge and tries to convince her to save her own life by coming with him . She refuses and an epic fight ensues . Thane is finally able to stun her as the ship falls deeper into the atmosphere . They make it to an escape pod and launch much too low . After a rough landing , they are met by a New Republic team . Ciena is arrested as an Imperial war criminal . She awaits trial , but Thane is convinced she will be released as he now believes in the goodness and fairness of the Republic , vowing to wait for her as long as it takes so they can be together . A month following the Battle of Jakku , the Empire has launched no further major offensives and retreated to the Core Worlds and Inner Rim . Within the New Republic government , there is talk of the remnants of the Empire capitulating . Meanwhile , in the Queluhan Nebula , the Imperial fleet rearms and restaffs with conscripts . Nash is a TIE squadron commander and vows revenge on the rebels for Ciena ' s presumed death . Reception . " Lost Stars " has met with an overwhelmingly positive reception from " Star Wars " fans . As of November 29 , 2015 , the title held an overall average rating of 4 . 7 / 5 stars at Amazon . com , with 423 reviews and 83 % of reviewers giving the title 5 stars . Many reviewers rated the title favorably in comparison with " Aftermath " , which was also released as part of the " Journey to the Force Awakens " initiative , and many expressed regret that the title seemed to be being marketed at a young - adult audience when they found the title engaging for adult readers as well . Tobar Dobinson , author of the review voted " most helpful , " stated that the novel " . . . feels like Star Wars , and it ties together important scenes , locations , and motivations . And it ' s fun ! " Another reviewer , Adam Selzer , expressed pleasure that the book was " . . . more about what went on Jakku than the other books released on ' Force Friday . " Saf , " a reviewer for the fan site Making Star Wars , described the title as " exciting and unpredictable , " stating that it expressed " an artistry similar to Stephen King . "