It certainly sounds a lot more connected to the movie than any of the TFA tie-ins were last year.
Well, there was
Before the Awakening, a short story anthology which provided Finn and Poe's backstory in prose form as well as giving Rey a pre-movie adventure that let us get into head and gave some of the moments in the movie more meaning (it's a really good read, so consider it recommended).
Rey's Survival Guide, a sort-of autobiography/field guide to Jakku by Rey, also delivered a lot of world-building and gave Rey a good deal of backstory -- no, we don't learn about her parents or how she got to Jakku, but there is quite a deal on her early childhood and present (I'd say also recommended, but bear in mind that it's not that much of a narrative, more of a "non-fiction" guide filtered through a character -- and the amazing thing is that the author captured Rey's voice really well despite it being written before the movie came out.)
Ironically, those two were excluded from the "Journey to
Star Wars: The Force Awakens" series, despite being the only two that really bridged the gap (not that the other "Journey..." stuff was bad -- a lot was good -- it just didn't tie in to the big stuff or bridge the gap the way it sounded like it would). For the record, the
Catalyst novel seems to be doing a better job, as it looks like we seeing early stages for the heist as well as Jyn's father playing a key role, which could inform stuff in the movie
I'm not too surprised Jyn isn't focused on too heavily, presumably they want to save her proper introduction for the movie itself.
Could be, although the aforementioned
Before the Awakening book did introduce the TFA characters before the movie. I was really hoping that Jyn would be the star, given that she's the R1 character I'm most curious about (esp. given that the first trailer seems to paint her as a wild card being press-ganged into the heist, while the second one presents her as a heroic character, so I'm really curious how that all works, if she starts as the untrustworthy one who matures into the heroine, or if she has elements of both throughout the movie, or what).
Also, I wouldn't rule out the possibility of a Jyn-centred novel within a year. Even if the movie ends with her, umm, indisposed there's always the possibility of a novel set a few years prior to the movie.
If she proves to be as interesting as in the trailer, I'd go for that. (I'm deeply suspicious that Jyn and her team die in the movie, but I'm hoping not).