The Rise of Skywalker (Star Wars: Novelizations, #9)

by Rae Carson

When the body began to fail, the mind reached out, unencumbered by physical ability. The truth was, Leia couldn’t run through the jungle if she wanted to. Peace and calm came easily because her body craved them.

The girl had darkness inside her, just like Ben. But Leia would not make the same mistakes she had with her son. She would not give in to fear—neither of the darkness rising within her pupil nor of her own questionable qualifications as a teacher. Most important, she would never send Rey away.

Obi-Wan had failed to keep Vader from the dark side. Luke had failed the same way with Ben. She could not fail Rey.

“You’re being obnoxious and completely unhelpful.”

Leia and Rey were different, the last remnants of a dead Order, and together, they would carve a new path.

juggernaut of destruction, monstrous and unstoppable.

“Exegol.”

“But no one here understands…except Kylo Ren. If the son of Han and Leia can be turned, can’t any of us?”

Kylo Ren was Supreme Leader of the First Order. Before that, he’d been the leader of the Knights of Ren. Before that, he’d been the presumptive heir to the Skywalker legacy and the son of a princess. So he’d been subjected to false flattery and sycophantic compliments his whole life, and he refused to give them power. Then, and especially now.