Star Wars: The Mask of Fear cover art

Star Wars: The Mask of Fear

Star Wars: Reign of the Empire, Book 1

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Star Wars: The Mask of Fear

By: Alexander Freed
Narrated by: January LaVoy
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Before the Rebellion, the Empire reigned. The first book in a new trilogy.


"In order to ensure the security and continuing stability, the Republic will be reorganized into the first Galactic Empire! For a safe and secure society!"

With one speech, and thunderous applause, Chancellor Palpatine brought the era of the Republic crashing down. In its place rose the Galactic Empire. Across the galaxy, people rejoiced and celebrated the end to war—and the promises of tomorrow. But that tomorrow was a lie. Instead the galaxy became twisted by the cruelty and fear of the Emperor’s rule.

During that terrifying first year of tyranny, Mon Mothma, Saw Gerrera, and Bail Organa face the encroaching darkness. One day, they will be three architects of the Rebel Alliance. But first, each must find purpose and direction in a changing galaxy, while harboring their own secrets, fears, and hopes for a future that may never come, unless they act.

©2025 Alexander Freed (P)2025 Penguin Audio
Action & Adventure Adventure Fantasy Genre Fiction Movie, TV & Video Game Tie-Ins Science Fiction Space Opera Star Wars Interstellar

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All stars
Most relevant  
Very well written and an interesting cast of characters both new and old. Suffers very slightly from the fact that you know how it will all turn out in the end but still manages to keep the reader engaged with twists and turns. Amazing performance.

An excellent midquel

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I get that this might not be to some peoples taste like the reviewer below who called it boring. If you’re only used to reading Star Wars books in their beautiful pulpy glory, you might struggle with a novel as nuanced and patiently paced as this.
For me, getting inside the politics of the early days of the Empire and the various factions vying for the support of imperial citizens was something I’d wanted for a while and it did not dissapoint. The crowning glory of Freed’s book though was how he got inside the mind of Mon Mothma in her journey from liberal reformer to revolutionary fire brand and her emotional trauma in imperial detention. Chapter 17 was next level writing for a Star Wars book. Wonderfully narrated too. Good to hear a fresh voice on a Star Wars audiobook.

Brilliant writing. A gripping political thriller.

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Very fun and interesting to learn about the politics that took place in the early days of the Empire. Developed the 3 main characters well and remained true to what we know of them already. The side stories with Chemish and Sujen are interesting enough too.

Sometimes it’s a little hard to distinguish who is talking as the voice acting is quite similar for a lot of characters.

A solid 4/5 - Would definitely recommend

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Quite enjoyable, and covers many different perspectives across all sides of the Clone Wars.

The narrator was fine, but I can’t help but feel like a British narrator would have fit better.

I also didn’t like how the new governor who was introduced to Mon Mothma was basically a Texan, it was a bit on the nose.

A nice insight into a lesser seen part of the Star Wars Universe

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This is a great intro to what the first moves of those founders (Guerrea, Organa and Mothama) of the, as yet, unconceived Alliance do as individuals in the first years after the end of the Clone Wars. The politicking is expertly written by Freed (Twilight Company) but there's action too and horror as the Empire's ambitions and means used to justify the ends are revealed. With overtones relevant to today's struggles, this is inspirational.Star Wars for anyone interested in what it takes to resist...

Great foundations!

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Great story, impressive for what is essentially a prequel filling in blanks. Has given me a renewed interest in Star Wars books and other prequel materials. Worth a listen.

Great voice acting good sound effects

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A really brilliant and exciting addition to Star Wars world building. Excellent story with LOTS of resonances with today’s world. Look forward to next chapter.

Fantastic Story. Lots of resonance with today’s world. History rhymes

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A great story that want more meat on their Star Wars Stories. This is not for your basic lightsaber fighting SW fan. It is for us that see the raise of Evil within politics and how people find themseles in a fight for what is right.

A more adult Star Wars Story

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I'm in two minds about this story.

On the one hand, it is interesting to establish links between Mon Mothma, Saw Gerrera and Bail Organa, and the story offers an exploration of that slow decline of republic values and the steady rise of the brutal imperial methods. There is some emphasis on the casualness by which the empire dispenses cruelty, as well as the efficiency and power of it's information network, and both things are relevant to stories in later eras.

On the other hand, this book is a bit of a tangled mess of politics and minor action that leaves me unsure as to what it was actually ABOUT. It suffers from too many characters with too many individual stories and it's difficult to pick out a defining moment and say this was the main plot point, or here was the climax at the end. In a way it does a bit of an LOTR thing whereby the story is over then it goes on for another hour and just kind of fizzles into 'this is our lives now'. While there is tension, there is very little action, and if you like the swashbuckling adventures that usually come with Star Wars this is not that.

But it's not a bad book, and it's not a bad performance - it's just not great either. Midrange. If you have nothing else to spend a credit on, it's an ok listen.

The most mid Star Wars story

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Too much dialogue. Not enough action. Slow paced. Not sure how this links into Andor. A very political star war story.

Worst Star Wars story ever

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