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jtashoff's review
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
reillykid7's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
swazwald's review
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Star Wars: Death Star is not nearly as good or as interesting as I had remembered it being from reading it years ago. It is chock full of the worst habits of EU novels, without much in the way of interesting ideas to make you want to overlook the flaws. Not badly written per se, functionally speaking it is a perfectly competent piece of prose, so it gets a 3/5 for that alone, but there is very little here that adds to the story of Star Wars. And the novel’s story itself certainly isn’t strong on its own merits. IMO only worth reading for completionists who want to read every EU book out there.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Genocide, Murder, and Death
cosmeretraveler's review
5.0
An amazing cast of characters. This book has a sort of Pulp Fiction like story. You encounter many characters seemingly in different stories which all intertwine to one set on the Death Star of course. I haven't found another starwars book like it.
sqeeker's review against another edition
3.0
- I've always wanted to read a Star Wars book, but I never knew where to start, and I was a bit intimidated. Well, I finally picked one and read it!
- The beginning was very dry and very slow. I wasn't sure if I was going to finish the book, but I kept going, and slowly it became more and more interesting.
- There are a lot of characters, and it takes a long time to learn the characters and for them to start interacting with each other. Most of the book, I wondered why these characters were important, and why I should care about them. Now that I've finished the book, I'm still wondering why I should care about them.
- Darth Vader and Tarkin were the most interesting people to read about. I already knew who they were, and I why they were important. Plus, they are the ones that intermingled with the part of the story that converges with A New Hope.
- I liked getting to know Tarkin better. His character intrigues me, and he was interesting to read about.
- The story really took off for me during Part 2. That is when A New Hope starts, and I loved seeing the Empire's side of the story.
- The writing is very dry, and it took me a while to get used to. Once I was used the writing, the book became more enjoyable.
- Overall, I'm glad and proud that I finished this book, but I probably wouldn't read it again.
- The beginning was very dry and very slow. I wasn't sure if I was going to finish the book, but I kept going, and slowly it became more and more interesting.
- There are a lot of characters, and it takes a long time to learn the characters and for them to start interacting with each other. Most of the book, I wondered why these characters were important, and why I should care about them. Now that I've finished the book, I'm still wondering why I should care about them.
- Darth Vader and Tarkin were the most interesting people to read about. I already knew who they were, and I why they were important. Plus, they are the ones that intermingled with the part of the story that converges with A New Hope.
- I liked getting to know Tarkin better. His character intrigues me, and he was interesting to read about.
- The story really took off for me during Part 2. That is when A New Hope starts, and I loved seeing the Empire's side of the story.
- The writing is very dry, and it took me a while to get used to. Once I was used the writing, the book became more enjoyable.
- Overall, I'm glad and proud that I finished this book, but I probably wouldn't read it again.
fisk42's review
2.0
I really disliked this book for the first 1/4 of the book. We're giving the POV of over 10 characters which doesn't really work here. In the end I did get some enjoyment out of this book, but ultimately this would have worked so much better as a "Tales of ..." Book like they used to do.
jaredkwheeler's review
4.0
Star Wars Legends Project #227
Background: Death Star was written by [a:Michael Reaves|12537|Michael Reaves|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1272842062p2/12537.jpg] and [a:Steve Perry|6262|Steve Perry|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1463048818p2/6262.jpg] and published in October of 2007. Reaves and Perry had previously collaborated on the MedStar duology. Perry is also the author of Shadows of the Empire and Reaves has written over half a dozen other Star Wars novels.
Death Star covers the three years leading up to the Battle of Yavin. The main characters include Uli Divini, Grand Moff Tarkin, Darth Vader, Admiral Motti, and various others (mostly one-off characters). There are also major appearances by Admiral Daala and Princess Leia, and minor appearances by Luke, Han, Chewbacca, Obi-Wan, C-3PO, and R2-D2. The story takes place mainly aboard the Death Star and on the prison planet Despayre, as well as other locations visited by the Death Star, and Coruscant.
Summary: Death Star. The very name evokes dread and speaks of unspeakable power and destruction. But who were the beings who built and operated the Empire's ultimate superweapon? What combination of fate and choice brought them on board? How did they feel about the galaxy-altering events that transpired during the vessel's maiden voyage? These are (some of) their stories.
Review: I was honestly not sure how this novel was supposed to work when I first picked up, and that feeling grew somewhat during most of the first act. The writing is great, but the cast is large and the book takes its time introducing them. As chapter after chapter shifted to yet another new character, I started to wonder if the entire book would be composed of vignettes featuring characters once and then never returning to them again . . . a sort of "Oral History of the Death Star" approach, perhaps. But where was it all going?
Then, gradually but definitively, characters and plot threads began to knit themselves together and tapestry of a grand narrative appeared. This is the epic Oscarbait historical romance approach to Star Wars, giving us emotional human (and alien) drama against the sweeping backdrop of events that are larger than all of them. It's like Titanic. You go into it knowing how the story ends for the titular vessel and what happens to the big-name characters, but not knowing how (or whether) things will work out for the little characters who take center-stage.
It wouldn't be a Reaves story without a role for one of his own characters. In this case that's Uli Divini, a surgeon who first appeared in the MedStar duology, and who has been forcibly retained in that capacity by the military in the two decades since. I also enjoyed seeing some events from the point of view of Tarkin, Vader, and Motti. But my favorite characters were brand-new, particularly Tenn Graneet, the chief gunner who fired on Alderaan. This novel does an incredible job giving depth and dimension to one of the core elements of Star Wars. It's definitely worth a read.
A-
Background: Death Star was written by [a:Michael Reaves|12537|Michael Reaves|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1272842062p2/12537.jpg] and [a:Steve Perry|6262|Steve Perry|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1463048818p2/6262.jpg] and published in October of 2007. Reaves and Perry had previously collaborated on the MedStar duology. Perry is also the author of Shadows of the Empire and Reaves has written over half a dozen other Star Wars novels.
Death Star covers the three years leading up to the Battle of Yavin. The main characters include Uli Divini, Grand Moff Tarkin, Darth Vader, Admiral Motti, and various others (mostly one-off characters). There are also major appearances by Admiral Daala and Princess Leia, and minor appearances by Luke, Han, Chewbacca, Obi-Wan, C-3PO, and R2-D2. The story takes place mainly aboard the Death Star and on the prison planet Despayre, as well as other locations visited by the Death Star, and Coruscant.
Summary: Death Star. The very name evokes dread and speaks of unspeakable power and destruction. But who were the beings who built and operated the Empire's ultimate superweapon? What combination of fate and choice brought them on board? How did they feel about the galaxy-altering events that transpired during the vessel's maiden voyage? These are (some of) their stories.
Review: I was honestly not sure how this novel was supposed to work when I first picked up, and that feeling grew somewhat during most of the first act. The writing is great, but the cast is large and the book takes its time introducing them. As chapter after chapter shifted to yet another new character, I started to wonder if the entire book would be composed of vignettes featuring characters once and then never returning to them again . . . a sort of "Oral History of the Death Star" approach, perhaps. But where was it all going?
Then, gradually but definitively, characters and plot threads began to knit themselves together and tapestry of a grand narrative appeared. This is the epic Oscarbait historical romance approach to Star Wars, giving us emotional human (and alien) drama against the sweeping backdrop of events that are larger than all of them. It's like Titanic. You go into it knowing how the story ends for the titular vessel and what happens to the big-name characters, but not knowing how (or whether) things will work out for the little characters who take center-stage.
It wouldn't be a Reaves story without a role for one of his own characters. In this case that's Uli Divini, a surgeon who first appeared in the MedStar duology, and who has been forcibly retained in that capacity by the military in the two decades since. I also enjoyed seeing some events from the point of view of Tarkin, Vader, and Motti. But my favorite characters were brand-new, particularly Tenn Graneet, the chief gunner who fired on Alderaan. This novel does an incredible job giving depth and dimension to one of the core elements of Star Wars. It's definitely worth a read.
A-