Star Wars Death Troopers

[Mr Light]

I finally got this from the library! It's a hardcover novel that came out earlier in October. It takes place about halfway between the Prequel and OT.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book! It's basically a Star Wars horror story. An Imperial prison barge loses power and discovers an abandoned pristine Star Destroyer sitting in space... then everybody starts dying.

The author has never written in the SWverse before but he's damned good. I'm actually curious about the other books he's written. He did an excellent job at conveying dread and horror.

My only complaint would be that the plot (as I understand it) is lifted from the Dead Space game and the characters are lifted right from Prison Break. Two brothers injustly in jail because of their father's sins? One always looking out for the other and the other resents it? A rich liberal woman becomes a prison doctor to piss off daddy?

The biggest surprise was an unannounced supporting role by a prominent Star Wars character:

Spoiler: character

A third of the way into the book Han Solo and Chewbacca enter the story!

It certainly made me appreciate the story more.

Now if you're buying the book you'll probably be pissed. It's a hardcover and there's only 235 pages of story! The rest of the book is filled with an except from the first Legacy of the Force book... which came out what a year ago?

But if you're looking for an atmospheric horror thriller set in the Star Wars universe, this is it, baby.

 

[SeerSGB]

I've read it, wasn't impressed. Definitely not a hardcover buy, way to short. And I really didn't give a shit about anything that happened to the characters. Actually, I was kinda of hoping the younger character in the story would keep chomped by the zombies so e would be out of the story.

 

[Spiderpope]

Now if you're buying the book you'll probably be pissed. It's a hardcover and there's only 235 pages of story! The rest of the book is filled with an except from the first Legacy of the Force book... which came out what a year ago?

But if you're looking for an atmospheric horror thriller set in the Star Wars universe, this is it, baby.

Unless of course you live in the UK, where it's been released as a paperback. Picked it up today, although itll be a while before i get around to reading it. Not too bothered about elements being lifted from Prison Break since ive never seen that show so its new to me.

 

[Smiley]

I actually wish that the characters mentioned in spoiler code above were not in the book. It's still an effective story, but some suspense is removed by having characters that we know survive to a later point in the timeline involved in the events of Death Troopers.

While the book is rather short, I don't think it needed to be longer. Padding it out would have made the book less effective. Lucas Books is putting out more hardcovers these days, and that's where most of the big stories will debut from now on. I picked this one up with a pre-order discount, which drops it down to trade paperback price.

I'm a little annoyed that the author's original novel gets a mention on the cover. To my knowledge, no other non-Star Wars book has been advertised on the front cover of a Star Wars novel.

As someone who's not a big fan of horror, gore, or medical details, this book gets a thumbs-up from me for presenting things in a scary, effective way without grossing out the reader.

 

[SeerSGB]

-- Could have done with out the canon character appearances.
-- Wanted to learn more about the Doc and the prison guard and the whole story behind that.
-- Really wish the story had spent more time on the source of the zombies and what the Empire was really trying to do.

 

[Mr Light]

I dunno, I think they explained as much as they needed to...

Spoiler: boop

the Empire created a zombie virus to unleash on the Rebels which they could direct and control. Inevitably, something went horribly wrong and the creators became the eaten and zombified.

.

 

[SeerSGB]

I dunno, I think they explained as much as they needed to...

Spoiler: boop

the Empire created a zombie virus to unleash on the Rebels which they could direct and control. Inevitably, something went horribly wrong and the creators became the eaten and zombified.

.

I just see that as to simple, which goes back to the story feeling like a light read.

 

[FluffyUnbound]

I want to buy this, because I have a sporting interest in genre crossovers, and the zombies of course make it practically irresistible [see sig], but I'm a little annoyed that they haven't released this for the Kindle yet. The Kindle version will probably be much cheaper. [That's probably why it's not available yet.]

 

[sidious618]

I'm waiting 'til it comes out in paperback because I heard it was way too light.

 

[Corran Horn]

The author came here for a booksigning but I was away on vacation. If I could have made the signing I probably would have picked up the hardcover. Now, I'll wait for the paperback release.

 

[Jono]

It is indeed a very short novel, grabbed it in paperback a month or so back. Found it a good read and will probably get the prequel that's in the works when it comes out.

 

[DarKush]

I got it from the library. I enjoyed it. Though I don't think it needed to be a hardcover and i would not have purchased it (I generally don't buy hardcovers anyway).

I thought the book was fast paced, well written, and I liked the characters. I liked that it dealt with regular people and not Jedi, Sith, etc. I was skeptical of a Star Wars horror novel, but I think the author did a good job with it. The spoiler characters was a nice reveal, it made me smile. But I think the book sort of lost some steam after that because you knew the spoiler characters weren't going to die and that takes some punch out of a horror novel. I recommend it, but I wouldn't buy it hardcover. Get it from the library or wait until it comes out in paperback. Also, loved the cover.

 

[Base_Delta_Zero]

Read this back in October one afternoon around Halloween. Decent book. I enjoyed having the special guest stars show up since it addressed an otherwise unexplored event from their past in an interesting setting. As for their not dying, every Star Wars story involving such special guest stars has to succeed or fail on its own merits, regardless, as the special guests are pretty much 100% guaranteed to survive. I felt this story did that, as well as effectively introducing the horror scenario to the universe.

Got it through a bookclub for cheap, cause I otherwise would have waited for the paperback. I used to buy every Star Wars book in hardcover, until Del Rey took over the franchise and the quality of the stories took a sharp nose-dive.

*cough*NJO*cough*

Having this set essentially in the OT was a must, as well. The "current" timeline is frankly retarded and uninteresting to me. OT era and even the Clone Wars stuff, if I am hard up for a SW fix, are all I'll spend money on nowadays.

EDIT: Yes, I also enjoyed the no Jedi/Sith aspect and the lack of impending doom for the entire galaxy. For the local systems/wider sector, maybe, but the threat was presented as reasonably containable if not for this specific scenariothe heroes find themselves in.

 

[Teelie]

I may check it out of the library but I've given up on any hope for Star War novels with the exception of specific writers and even that's drying up. Del Rey really sank the universe for me with their Legacy series and Karen Traviss added a bonus torpedo with her Mandocommando writings.