That's the short version. It's a good time, doesn't take itself too seriously, but has enough stakes, emotional and otherwise to make it a page-turning read.
The slightly longer version?
Norra Wexley is a one-time rebel pilot, now determined to settle back down in her old home and rekindle her relationship with the son she left behind. Unfortunately for Norra, she gets into a bit of trouble on the way home, trying to avoid Imperial entanglements, and her son is...less than keen to rebuild their relationship. I have a lot of time for Norra, a woman trying to build a life on the back of decisions she made a long time ago, as the cooling ashes of Rebellion turn into the more pragmatic needs of a governing Republic. She's a mother coming home from a war, a war she chose to fight while not expecting to win...and she has to live with the consequences of that. But she has a fierce love for her family (even the bits she doesn't really get on with) and especially for the son she left behind. Watching her struggle to decide on what she wants to be, whether she can leave behind her old-new-life and settle down again, or whether the spirt of the Rebellion is going to ignite again in her...well, it feels very grounded, very real, much like Norra herself. Her life is not made less complex when she picks up a distress call from Wedge Antilles (famed as "that other guy in an X-Wing by Luke Skywalker" in Star Wars). But it does serve as a catalyst for her to start making some increasingly desperate choices, which are entertaining and definitely not going to end badly and/or explosively.
She's assisted in her terrible decision making by Sinjir Velus, one time Imperial troubleshooter slash internal security, now hiding out on Norra's home planet in order to stay out of the way of both the Republic (who probably want a few quiet words) and the ex-Imperials he thinks are taking things more than a little too far (and who also want a few quiet words of their own). Sinjir is about 50% neat alcohol and 50% cynicism, and he's a lovely counterbalance to the more idealistic Norra. I think he'd perhaps be a bit much by himself in a story at this level of pulp-adventure, but as a foil for her heroism, his more pragmatic ruthlessness works perfectly. Also he has a nice turn in wordplay, and occasionally does that one thing that cuts through the moralising Gordian Knot that the ex-Rebels are rather fond of making for themselves. Whether he's a genuine defector or not is a question that gets asked occasionally through the story, and I shan't spoil it here - but whatever he is, Sinjir is an entertaining read, a self-centred rogue who may or may not be on the way to redemption, possibly depending on the relevant rates of pay.
Then there's Jas Emari, the bounty hunter, who works for whoever happens to be paying, at least notionally. She's smart, thoughtful, and teetering on the grey edges of a universe that has a little more tolerance for grey edges than it did before the second Death Star exploded. She's focused on getting that one big score, on getting in and out, trying for that One Last Job that would set her up for life. Unfortunately for her, that puts her in the crosshairs of various powerful interests - Imperial and otherwise - and she swiftly finds herself entangled with Sinjir and Norra, all trying to stay one jump ahead.
And then there's Temmin, Norra's son. Grown now, resentful of a mother he thinks abandoned him when he needed her most. A boy who now skirts on more than a few edges himself, with a sideline in technical sabotage, murder-droid construction and long-odds gambling, the last of which has a penchant for getting him into trouble. Temmin talks a good game as a young man on the boundaries of heroism and selfishness, and where he ultimately falls may be decided in this book, or the next, but in the meanwhile his internal conflicts, his refusal to see himself as less than a competent individual, and refusal to abdicate agency to his mother, mean that they clash often, even as they try and reshape their relationship in a world with no need for a Rebellion, but which might have a need for Rebels, still.
They're a motley crew, and by the end of the book, I was thoroughly invested in them all, and in their weird and wonderful group dynamic.
The story...well, honestly it's too full of twists and turns to really do justice to here. But it is, at its heart, a story where good triumphs over evil, where day to day heroism stands up against the boot of oppression, and where people justifying the poor choices they make may be said, occasionally, to get their comeuppance. That said, it works hard to make (some of) the villains of the piece more than cardboard cutouts. Rae Sloane, for example, an Imperial Admiral who I'm sure I've seen turn up in a few other places, is a competent, conscientious officer, not one keen to serve another cackling maniac, but also unwilling to relinquish power and control in a galaxy she sees as teetering into chaos. Sloane is political, ruthless, deadly, and definitely making some pretty horrible choices - but inside her own paradigm, she's not the villain . Sloane is a villain, make no mistake, but if she turned 45 degrees, she'd be the heroine of her own story, warped as it may be.
In the end, this is Star Wars. Exotic locations. Adventure! Excitement! Really wild things! And in the heart of it, a story of found family, of love and sacrifice, defeat and heroism and unexpected victory. It's a story, to steal from Rogue One, a story built on hope. And one I hope you enjoy reading as much as I did.
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