Review of Crimson Climb by E.K. Johnston

★★☆☆☆ 2 stars

TW: brief mention of SA towards the end

I am going to preface this review by saying I may be just a little bit biased because Qi’ra is my absolute favourite Star Wars character and I already generally do not enjoy E.K. Johnston’s writing style. With that being said…

Crimson Climb is a young-adult novel written by E.K. Johnston that follows Qi’ra from the time she is left behind by Han on Corellia through her rise in the ranks of Crimson Dawn. On the surface, this seems like a very interesting concept; Qi’ra’s character is left very mysterious in Solo: A Star Wars Story and I know I’m not alone in wanting to know more about her time with Crimson Dawn. However, the product we got feels merely like filler. At the risk of sounding cocky, I feel like I’ve thought more about Qi’ra’s character than most people in the Star Wars fandom (this isn’t me being like “oh I’m better than you 😌,” this is just me being incurably hyperfixated on her I promise LOL). Crimson Climb was disappointing to say the least. But I don’t want this to just be a negative review, so I thought I’d start by talking about what I think this novel did well.

Johnston said that Dryden Vos was her favourite character to write dialogue for and it is very obvious as a reader. He captivates every scene that he’s in, his expertly veiled anger and power oozes off the page and makes it obvious how he’s stayed at the top for so long. As much as I hate him as a character, I wish we could’ve got more scenes between him and Qi’ra that delved deeper into their relationship. However, that is a point I’ll bring up a bit later. I thought that the second half of the novel (which features him much more regularly) was far better than the first half.

Another aspect I enjoyed was the author’s portrayal of Han and his relationship with Qi’ra. I was very concerned about this part when it was announced that Johnston would be penning this novel. She did nothing to hide her dislike of Anakin Skywalker in the third installment of her Padmé trilogy: Queen’s Hope. This ended up making the story feel… off. Being a Han Solo fan, I’m used to hearing women call him “misogynistic” and “creepy” when that couldn’t be farther from the truth. I was very worried Johnston would fall under this umbrella of misunderstanding, however, I was thankfully proven wrong! Every time Han is mentioned it’s Qi’ra reminiscing about their time together, or thinking of his shenanigans in order to produce a smile. My favourite part of the whole novel was the interlude between chapters eighteen and nineteen that tells us Qi’ra’s first impressions of Han and how their relationship developed. It is very sweet. In my heart of hearts, I believe Qi’ra continued to love Han long after the events of Solo, but knew that being with her wasn’t right for him. Something something, if you love them let them go, y’know? But regardless, I’m glad their relationship stayed strong in Qi’ra’s mind even after time passed. The loss of Han was also handled delicately; we see Qi’ra grapple with him leaving her, she is angry for awhile, but she doesn’t hold a grudge against him. She doesn’t doubt that he’ll try to save her from Corellia, but she knows she can’t sit around and wait for him:

“She could cling to the idea of him, a triumphant return and a rescue from what was sure to be an absolutely terrible future. She could hold on to that hope no matter what Proxima did to her. She could find the silver lining. She could wait for him, getting through the pain and torment by imagining the life they’d have. That was what Han would have done, if their positions were reversed. Qi’ra was sure of that, too. She wouldn’t wait. Hope was for fools, and she couldn’t waste her imagination on pretty futures that might never come.”

Unfortunately that’s about all I can say about what the novel did well. Besides Han and Dryden (which makes me go hmm a little bit considering this is a book that has numerous female characters), there is little I can say about it in a positive light. To keep this organized, I’m going to split my criticisms into sections: plot, characters/character traits, little details, and authorial choices.

Plot

Crimson Climb is much like Johnston’s Padmé trilogy in how it feels more like a series of events strung together more than a fleshed out story worth telling. I’ll delve into this further when I talk about authorial choices, but I think it’s important to mention while discussing the issues with the plot. The pacing of the story is very weird. Many scenes feel like they’re dragging on for absolutely no benefit, and the more interesting scenes feel like they’re over before they even start, or just straight up don’t happen. Qi’ra’s time on Corellia lasted for far too long. We all knew that she was eventually headed to Crimson Dawn so I’m not sure why the author wanted to dwell in the sewers of the White Worms for so long. When she finally leaves the Worms, she is with Sarkin Enneb for what feels like two days before being bought by Crimson Dawn’s head concierge Corynna, basically as a pet for Dryden Vos. Though she was treated awfully by Sarkin, I feel like for the plot she should’ve stayed with him at least a tiny bit longer. This would explain in a much clearer way why Qi’ra feels like she “owes” Crimson Dawn in Solo. 

The pacing at the end of the novel also feels wildly off. In the last thirty pages, Qi’ra and all of the remaining operatives from Thorum (which is a problem in and of itself but I won’t get ahead of myself) embark on an Indiana Jones-style quest to retrieve an artefact for the “mysterious controller” of Crimson Dawn. All but two of the operatives (and Qi’ra of course but you know, plot armour) die in the temple in a very rapid fire succession. The entire quest is over and done with after fifteen pages. It was entertaining to read, however it felt very misplaced especially considering there was only one other kind of similar mission in the story at the very beginning. And since it was shoved at the end of the story, there are questions that arise from it that are never dealt with (is Qi’ra Force sensitive??? What the hell man). Immediately following this quest, Qi’ra returns to the First Light and is told by Dryden that she is to deliver the artefact (which is some sort of Jedi holocron… thing?) to the “mysterious controller” aka Maul. However we don’t even get the luxury of seeing them meet as the story ends right before that happens! The events of Crimson Climb feel like they’re happening for no reason; nothing has any pay-off, any risk, or any reward.

Characters

Another reason the plot holds no weight is that the events and challenges that Qi’ra faces do nothing to alter her character. She remains the same resourceful, cunning protagonist that she was at the beginning of the novel. The only sort of change we see is when she realizes it’s easier to play into Dryden’s game of power than to fight him on it. This happens less than one hundred pages into the story. I can’t help but compare it to Most Wanted by Rae Carson where Qi’ra goes through significant character development and not only opens herself up to accepting help from Han and Tsuulo, but also learns a great deal from The Engineer about how she wants to interact with power. Despite being the protagonist of this book, Qi’ra feels merely like a vessel to tell the story (however, I also felt this way about the Padmé trilogy so again, this might just be an authorial issue). 

Beyond Qi’ra, Crimson Climb has a serious problem with its original characters. Why are there so many? If you put a gun to my head and asked me to name even five of the operatives on the Thorum mission, I’d tell you to pull the trigger. Ok, maybe that’s a bit dramatic but like… come ON. There are twelve (12) characters who are stationed on Thorum with Qi’ra and only one (Trinia) is a pre-existing character (and even then, if you’re a casual fan there is a 99% chance you are not going to know who Trinia is). I can’t be the only person who thinks that’s an insane amount of original characters to remember and care about, right? And like I said before, all but two of them are killed! I found it hard to care about all of these people dropping like flies because we were told so little about them, but were expected to care. It’s also mentioned that Qi’ra had become somewhat friends with most of them, but outside of Trinia and Eleera (plus The Mizi, but she’s a bit different), we aren’t really shown any evidence of this. I’m not sure what Johnston’s intent behind making SO many original characters was. Was it to show how Crimson Dawn uses people like pawns and doesn’t care if they die? Maybe, but I’m sure you could show that without having to resort to making (literally) a dozen new characters. I hate to bring up Most Wanted again, but it’s the perfect foil for this issue. The novel only really has three original characters that are important: Tsuulo, Powlo, and The Engineer. All three characters serve a very specific narrative purpose and help develop Han and Qi’ra’s characters in a significant way. In Crimson Climb, the only (somewhat original) character that has any real impact is Trinia, I guess? She eventually serves as Qi’ra’s kind of handmaiden. You’d think Cerveteri, the book’s main “villain,” may have an impact but you’d be wrong! 

Cerveteri holds a grudge against Qi’ra because she showed her up on Corellia while trying to steal control panels. When Qi’ra finds out that Cerveteri is the leak within Crimson Dawn, Qi’ra is physically threatened by her time and time again. But every time Cerveteri gets Qi’ra alone, it’s the exact same thing: she pushes Qi’ra against the wall and chokes her, but Qi’ra doesn’t let her have the upper hand. She doesn’t even really feel fear in these confrontations for the most part. But for some reason we’re expected to believe that Cerveteri is a threat to Qi’ra? The only power struggle between them was on Thorum when Cerveteri was in charge of the operation, and even then, once Dryden finds out there is a leak (of which he also believes is Cerveteri), he promotes Qi’ra within his ranks and Cerveteri is all but forgotten about. In fact, I did kind of forget about her until she was brought back later in the second half as Qi’ra’s “nemesis.” Again, the lack of impact that Cerveteri had on Qi’ra only adds to the absence of any weight this story has.

Little Details

Ok I will admit this part will probably sound a little nit-picky, but sometimes little details add up to a greater misunderstanding of a character as a whole. Not about Qi’ra, but of all the gruesome deaths in this book, Johnston couldn’t tell us how Rebolt died? I hate that bastard! I need more details! ANYWAYS, now for more relevant critiques, the most prominent one I noticed was the lack of discussion about Qi’ra’s clothing choices. My best friend Emily actually pointed this one out to me and I wasn’t able to unsee it. It may sound like a trivial detail, but it had been well established in both Most Wanted and the Solo novelization that Qi’ra had an eye for the finer things in life, with a special focus on the clothes she wore. There are very few outfit descriptions in Crimson Climb, most of them are only to reference if the garment has pockets, which sure, I guess is important for someone like Qi’ra, but when compared to her past descriptions of the clothes she wears, it feels like it’s lacking. I’m not exactly sure how or why this happened either; Johnston is no stranger to writing detailed outfit descriptions as is plain to see in her Padmé trilogy. Coming from absolutely nothing, the clothes that Qi’ra wears hold a stronger meaning for her because it allows her to play into the person she wants to be. Some might say that’s like putting lipstick on a pig, but I relate to her in this way. The clothes you wear give you power, confidence, and purpose. Qi’ra is definitely someone who dresses herself with a specific purpose in mind. This story glazing over her clothing choices feels very out of character.

One more little nit-picky detail is that when Dryden is tattooing her with the Crimson Dawn logo, it’s said that it is a stark black against her skin which is… just not right. In Solo: A Star Wars Story the symbol on her wrist very clearly looks like it has been branded into her skin. In Crimson Climb the tattoo is done by using the ink of a Quarren man Qi’ra killed. I don’t know how Quarren ink works per se (Wookieepedia isn’t helping me either 🙁 ) but it seems weird that a tattoo would fade that much from the time she got it (around 13 BBY) to the time we see her in Solo (10 BBY). 

Authorial Choices

If you are E.K. Johnston and you are for some reason still reading this, now is a very good time to stop. Like I said at the very beginning, I do not like her writing style at all, full stop. Her Padmé books came out at the height of my Prequels obsession and Queen’s Shadow disappointed me so badly, it made me stop loving Padmé as much (sorry Padmé). I don’t think she’s ever followed the common writing advice of “show, don’t tell,” as all exposition is written in a very clunky manner, and reading her work feels like a repeating sequence of “this happened! And then we did this! And then we did that!” The first half of the book in particular was very juvenile sounding (I was often reminded of when I was in high school, reviewing my friends writing before they handed it in to the teacher). In Crimson Climb specifically, there are several moments that I believe Johnston wanted to imply certain things about Qi’ra, but they are just straight up unclear. The two biggest culprits of this are Qi’ra’s possible Force sensitivity and the mysterious figure in the epilogue.

During the little Indiana Jones interlude, Qi’ra is able to open the temple by placing her palms on the temple wall and focusing her energy. This happens one other time, and once they find the artefact – designed by a Jedi to eradicate any darkness in the Force – it burns Qi’ra at the touch of it. It’s also hinted that she may be Force sensitive in the War of the Bounty Hunters comics, but that wasn’t definitive either. The story is wrapped up immediately after this is presented to us, so we aren’t given any answers. This may be out of Johnston’s control, maybe it’s a Lucasfilm caveat, but it ends up making the story feel even more hollow.

The one that gets me the most is the epilogue though. The epilogue shows us what Qi’ra is thinking when they show her sitting alone at a cantina in Hidden Empire #5. I have looked at those panels approximately 10,000,000 times ok? I think about her final fate on a daily basis at this point. I had no idea it was going to be in this book and it threw me for a loop. Anyways, in Crimson Climb, Qi’ra is grappling with her own loss while the galaxy around her celebrates the fall of the Empire. She then notices a shrouded figure making their way to her, so she orders two drinks. The figure takes a seat at her table, she notes that they have “a cloak, a sleeve, a hand” and all she says is “Well, I guess I should have known it would be you.”

Pardon my French, but who the FUCK is she talking to? The fact that my first thought was Maul of all people (even though there’s absolutely no way it could be him unless we’re bringing him back from the dead AGAIN in the lamest way possible) tells you how little Johnston gives you to go off of. I’ve discussed this with several of my friends who have also read the book and no one is able to come up with a conclusive answer. My best guess is Margo since the intro chapter also involves her but doesn’t reference her by name, but come on. Keeping things mysterious is all well and good, but if absolutely no one has a solid guess of who the character is, the author is 100% at fault. She could’ve mentioned the state that the cloak is in (tattered? woolen? luxurious looking? etc.), if the hand was a specific colour (is this a human? another species? is it a gloved hand? is it a bounty hunter?), I’m not even asking for a crazy amount of information, I just need some context clues to go off of to form any sort of conclusion. I just can’t help but feel like it’s lazy writing, plain and simple.

Additionally, I don’t think Johnston was the right choice as the author of Qi’ra’s story. This was cemented in my head after the Lucasfilm Publishing panel at New York City Comic Con when discussing Qi’ra, Johnston said: “Usually I write the people who make good decisions and do nice things for their friends. This is not one of those cases,” (shoutout to Charles Soule who immediately came back and said that Qi’ra is “trying to do the right thing in an unfair galaxy.”) I feel like this really explains why Qi’ra is often written basically as a borderline sociopath in Crimson Climb. Don’t get me wrong, Qi’ra has always put herself first in all of the media she’s been in, but she is so incredibly disconnected from her emotions and any sort of attachments she has to the people around her in this story that it almost feels as if she’s a droid. The most striking example of this is while she’s on Thorum and has just learned about the Crimson Dawn leak from a protocol droid. She later learns that the only other person who may have more information (the secretary she had previously spoken to and had been on friendly terms with) had been collateral damage in an explosion, and thinks “she knew that she should feel bad about the secretary, but at the moment all she could focus on was the inconvenience of her death.” I understand why she thought this but holy crap. It feels like maybe a step too far.

Conclusions

This book should not have been written for a young-adult audience. Almost every review I’ve read for Crimson Climb says the exact same. I don’t know who decided that the book detailing the rise of a girl sold into slavery to a crime syndicate that is led by a man who has taken a “fancy” to her should be written for a teenage audience. It is simply baffling to me. The implication that there is something between Dryden and Qi’ra is definitely there, however, it is very sanitized. There are several references to Dryden keeping his hands on her, squeezing her bruises, and not to mention when Qi’ra is first presented to him by Corynna, one of the first things he says to her is “my dear, I don’t have to break you. I just have to beat you.” I get that it’s a tricky subject to handle, I’m not advocating for a scene where Qi’ra is straight up being sexually assaulted, I just think the subject would be easier to explain in an adult-grade novel. Even if we take away the implication that Qi’ra has faced sexual assault at the hands of her owners, this is still a story about a ruthless crime syndicate who takes what they want from whoever they want. Yes, this book does describe several gruesome deaths in detail, but I still feel like it sugar-coated a lot of the other elements of syndicate life. Fans are always saying that they want to see more of the seedy-underworld side of Star Wars, and when it’s given to us, it always seems to be in a very sanitized, PG way. In some ways, I almost feel like the novel’s shortcomings were in part because there was a limit to what could be done while staying appropriate for a YA audience. 

If you are still reading this: thank you, and I’m sorry. I don’t think I’ve ever written this much even when I was in university, woops! But to summarize: Crimson Climb is a sanitized look into the first year of Qi’ra’s life after Han leaves her on Corellia, and her rise in the ranks of Crimson Dawn. It doesn’t add much to her character and leaves much to be desired in its portrayal of the syndicate world. It is paced in an odd manner and often falls victim to juvenile writing habits. To reiterate what I said at the very beginning, I am likely biased because Qi’ra is my very favourite character and I have pre-existing opinions about the author, however I can’t in my right mind say that I recommend this book.

However, if you’re interested in learning more about Qi’ra and seeing her go through actual growth and development, I can recommend that you read Most Wanted by Rae Carson, and the recent Qi’ra comic trilogy (War of the Bounty Hunters, Crimson Reign, and Hidden Empire) by Charles Soule!

P.S. I need you all to know that “Cerveteri wanted you to flop” was a real sentence that was in this book. It hurt my head.