A review by justthatstarwarsbookgirl
Star Wars: Rebels: Servants of the Empire: Imperial Justice by Jason Fry

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I think this book was a great, fantastic and intriguing book that covered many different types of topics, including sensitive ones such as romance, blackmail, Crime Syndicates, and much, much more. I wasn’t very fond of the choice in title, it didn’t make much sense to me even by the end of the book, but the cover art was beautiful and intriguing as it’s our first look at Zare’s girlfriend from AppSci who we met in the first book, Merei Spanjaf. I gave the book 5 Stars instead of 4 Stars due to my pure enjoyment level while reading it. To me it’s a medium-paced read because I was able to put it down and pick it back up with ease at my leisure. We as readers can only begin to imagine and use the implications about what Laxo would’ve used Merei for eventually… I liked a lot of the way the book ended up but also at the same time detested Jix, the Pantoran boy who was into Merei at the same time she was dating Zare. It makes me wonder whether they’ll end up together in the end after all or if she’ll be with this Pantoran Slicer boy Jix. I like how Oleg’s arrogance within the Empire, his own huge investigation and ‘proud’ find about the Customs Goods not being Taxed, completely backfires on him and blows up in his face. The scene with the house raid where Oleg does his is completely ridiculous in its ‘show of power’, but then again it was meant to be, just like the rest of the Empire. I hope that we never see his character again, due to Zare’s thorough warning, though potentially he might come back to bite Zare in the a** eventually in the next and final book. But for a character that’s beyond annoyed us over two books, I’d say that he got a very creative and well-done ending. I find the Stormtrooper’s and Trainer’s kindnesses and fondness of the Cadets during Combat and Training exercises interesting due to their remembrance of their own time during training.  I like Merei’s quickly grown confidence and how it comes out as she deals with these criminals Laxo associates with due to being his courier, I enjoyed those interactions as seen in the book but I like when Laxo finally gets what he deserves due to Merei’s message sent to her parents and the locator situation. I really thought that was SUPER clever to set a timer to send a message fifteen minutes later after recording it and I love how Merei’s father gave her that handy locator. I also really like how Merei and her use of her jumpspeeder really put into perspective for me the use of everyday vehicles in the Star Wars Universe. I can’t believe Merei was so naïve to think they’d only arrest him, as if she doesn’t know the Empire’s corruption by now. It was sad, sort of, how Rosey ended up though, in a way. I didn’t like that the attempt to clear her info from the source didn’t work and that she had to go to Laxo’s office. That was a very disappointing scene for me. One of my favorite parts of the book was when fifteen or so year old (you really DO have to consider their ages in these books and put them into perspective) Merei woke up screaming in the early hours of the morning and her father, Gandr, rushed into the room to hold her and tell her she was safe. I both know what that type of parental love is like and also what it’s like to have to hide things at the same time. I thought Zare’s growing fear, paranoia and nightmares while attending the Imperial Academy were very well put and portrayed. I also enjoyed Auntie Nags not wanting to let Merei into the Leonis Apartment because she broke up with Zare. For a Nanny Droid that loyalty was done beautifully, it is completely understandable as she’s raised Zare and Dhara most of their childhood lives and considers them her own even as a Droid. I like how Merei knows her and the Leonis Family so well she can imagine the Nanny Droid’s eyes flashing from green to yellow to red when seeing her on the monitor. I thought the scene was so sad with Oleg shooting the Nanny Droid as it begged to not be taken away from the children, it just wanted to be taken back to the children. The sadness and emotions were very real even if just for a Droid but also for the children it cared for wondering where it went one day and never came back. The fact that the book described the synth flesh of the Nanny Droid’s body and face ending up on the ground was actually the roughest part of the book for me in a way. It wasn’t the same way, the same feeling provoked with the Protocol Droid. I thought the way the book was ended, with the transferral to the goal we’ve been hoping for all along, was a fantastic and hopeful way to resolve the book, only being brought down in tone and depressed by Merei’s belief that they took him there to question him. I actually loved how Currahee genuinely smiled at him twice for the first time ever and was sort of, in her own way, proud of him due to training him. I love Zare’s last, emotional message to Merei so, so much on her datapad. I am really hoping for a happy ending to this series where they find Dhara and the entire family is reunited (not that I’ve peeked ahead at the end of the next book or anything). However, I’d love for Merei to have a happy ending too, ending up with Zare, but I’m completely unsure how that will go. Overall I can’t wait for the next book, to see how the series ends up, and I really enjoyed this particular adventure and chapter in the 4-Part series!! 
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