Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Set in the Star Wars universe, this novel takes place after the fall of the Galactic Empire. A militant successor called the First Order threatens the galaxy as the fledgling New Republic falters. General Leia Organa leads a small military faction, the Resistance, against the First Order. Her brother, Luke Skywalker, the last of the Jedi, a mystical order of warriors who draw power from an energy field called the Force, has vanished. Leia sends her best pilot, Poe Dameron, to the desert planet Jakku to retrieve a partial map to Luke's location from an old ally named Lor San Tekka.

Tekka gives Poe the map, but First Order stormtroopers, the organization's soldiers, attack the village before he can escape. Kylo Ren, the First Order's masked dark-side enforcer, arrives and confronts Tekka, who invokes Ren's true heritage. Ren ignites his lightsaber, a weapon with a blade of pure energy, and kills Tekka. Poe fires at Ren from hiding, but Ren freezes the blaster bolt in midair with the Force, and stormtroopers seize the pilot. Ren orders the surviving villagers executed. During the massacre, one stormtrooper designated FN-2187 is traumatized and does not fire his weapon. Before capture, Poe hides the map inside his astromech droid, BB-8, and sends it into the desert.

Aboard the Star Destroyer Finalizer, Ren probes Poe's mind and learns the map is in BB-8. FN-2187, shaken by the atrocities, frees Poe and steals a two-seat First Order fighter. Poe names FN-2187 "Finn" during their escape. The Finalizer's guns disable the fighter, which crashes on Jakku. Finn ejects safely but finds only Poe's jacket, believing the pilot dead.

On Jakku, a young scavenger named Rey survives by stripping downed starships for parts and trading them for food. She lives alone in an old military walker, marking each day on the wall as she waits for a family she believes will return. She rescues BB-8 from a scavenging native and refuses to sell the droid despite a generous offer. When Finn stumbles into the trading outpost, BB-8 recognizes Poe's jacket and alerts Rey, who confronts Finn. He claims Poe died helping him escape the First Order and, when Rey asks if he belongs to the Resistance, lies and says yes.

Stormtroopers attack the outpost, forcing Rey and Finn to flee aboard a battered freighter that turns out to be the Millennium Falcon, a legendary Rebellion-era vessel. Rey pilots while Finn mans the guns, and they escape into space. A massive freighter captures the Falcon, but the boarders are Han Solo, the Falcon's original owner and famed Rebellion hero, and his copilot Chewbacca, a Wookiee—a species of large, fur-covered humanoid aliens. Han learns BB-8 carries a map to Luke and reveals that Luke was training new Jedi when one apprentice destroyed everything; consumed by guilt, Luke vanished. Two criminal gangs board the freighter to collect debts, and in the chaos the group escapes, though Chewbacca is wounded and one gang leader reports Han and the droid to the First Order.

At Starkiller Base, a planet converted into a superweapon, Supreme Leader Snoke, the First Order's leader, approves firing the weapon at the Republic's capital and reveals the droid is now with Han Solo, Ren's father. Ren insists Han means nothing to him, but alone, he kneels before the melted mask of Darth Vader, his grandfather, confessing he feels the pull to the light.

Han brings the group to Takodana, where the ancient smuggler Maz Kanata urges Han to stop avoiding Leia and deliver BB-8 to the Resistance himself. Finn confesses to Rey that he is a defected stormtrooper, not Resistance. He asks her to flee with him, but she refuses. Finn arranges passage with an alien crew heading for the Outer Rim, the galaxy's distant frontier. Drawn by an inexplicable pull, Rey descends beneath the castle and touches a lightsaber stored in a box, triggering a Force vision. Maz explains the lightsaber belonged to Luke and his father before him and called to Rey. Rey refuses it and runs.

Before Finn can leave Takodana, Starkiller Base fires, channeling dark energy through hyperspace to destroy the Hosnian system, seat of the New Republic government. The destruction appears as a new light over Takodana. First Order forces attack Maz's castle. Maz gives Finn the lightsaber and tells him to find Rey. In the forest, Kylo Ren confronts Rey, probes her mind, discovers she has seen the map, and carries her unconscious to his shuttle. Resistance X-wings arrive, led by Poe Dameron, who survived the Jakku crash and rejoined the Resistance. The counterattack drives off the First Order, and Han and Leia reunite for the first time in years.

At the Resistance base on D'Qar, Finn briefs the leadership on Starkiller Base. Admiral Statura theorizes that destroying the oscillator controlling the weapon's containment field while fully charged would collapse the planet from within. Han volunteers to take the Falcon with Finn and Chewbacca to disable the shields, allowing Poe's squadrons to attack. In private, Leia reveals Snoke has been manipulating their son since childhood and asks Han to bring the boy home.

On Starkiller Base, Ren interrogates Rey, but she pushes back into his mind, discovering his deepest fear: that he will never match Darth Vader. Ren flees in shock, and Rey uses a Force mind trick on her guard to escape. Han crash-lands the Falcon inside the shield perimeter, and the group captures Captain Phasma, a First Order officer, forcing her to disable the shields. The Resistance launches all squadrons.

Inside the oscillator, Han and Chewbacca plant explosives while Finn reunites with Rey, who has already freed herself. Han spots Ren and calls out his son's birth name: Ben. He urges Ren to come home, insisting Snoke is using him. Ren appears torn, weeping, and asks for help. As the last sunlight fades, Ren ignites his lightsaber through Han's chest. Han holds on briefly before falling into the depths. Leia senses his death through the Force and collapses. Chewbacca shoots Ren and detonates the charges, breaching the oscillator. Poe rallies X-wings to fire through the opening; the structure begins to collapse.

In the forest, the wounded Ren duels Finn, overpowering him and slashing him across the back. When Ren reaches for the fallen lightsaber with the Force, it flies past him into Rey's outstretched hand. She attacks with fierce intensity, draws on the Force, and slashes Ren's face. She resists the urge to kill him, pulling back from the dark side. The ground splits as the planet fractures, and First Order General Hux evacuates Ren by shuttle.

Chewbacca rescues Rey and the unconscious Finn aboard the Falcon as Starkiller Base implodes, its core igniting into a new star. On D'Qar, Rey learns Finn will recover, and she and Leia embrace in shared grief. During a briefing, R2-D2, Luke's old astromech droid dormant since his disappearance, activates and projects a star chart that BB-8's fragment completes, forming a full map to Luke. Rey visits Finn, kisses him, and promises they will meet again. Leia sees her off as Rey, Chewbacca, and R2-D2 fly the Falcon to a remote ocean planet. Rey climbs ancient steps to a clearing, where a cloaked figure lowers his hood: Luke Skywalker, white-haired and haunted. Rey holds out his lightsaber and waits.