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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-
hbelle01's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
hstapp's review
2.0
This book tells the story of the death star from a point somewhere after work has started on it's construction up til' it's demise. The story of course is not actually about the Death Star but events that happen upon it. I didn't like some of the stylistic choices and the story just didn't really do it for me.
thanat0s1017's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
fast-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? No
3.5
rogue_leader's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
thedayoflight's review
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
It's Star wars and I liked Vader and Tarkin's parts. But the rest of the characters where meh.
franklc29's review against another edition
3.0
Really entertaining story but a little disappointing that the majority of the EU had already been written by the time this one came out. Great characters but it would have made a lot more sense for them all to die instead of just some of them. Vil and Uli are great characters and never getting to hear what happens doesn't make much sense. It was really interesting to give the people of the death star a more human side. Very enjoyable
pinkmalady's review
adventurous
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
this book is so frustrating. prefacing that i am incredibly biased towards the new Disney canon, but i've enjoyed all of Legends that i have read with my own two eyes, up until this.
the good:
- darth vader's internal monologue is pretty in-character and it's interesting to get an idea of what he was thinking while a new hope was going on, even if i disagree with some of the character decisions they made due to obvious misinterpretation.
- my enjoyment and the over-all quality of the book began to rise as soon as this novel's story began intersecting more and more with a new hope, because it's kinda hard to fuck up a retelling of arguably one of the most narratively perfect films of all time.
- on paper, i really like daala and tarkin's relationship, but they barely dive into it here.
the bad:
- this book DOES NOT incorporate new details into preexisting canon well. it is hindered by preexisting canon's story beats and preexisting characters' plot armors. it cannot to save its life add or commit AT ALL to anything not totally stupid and irrelevant (like the exhaust port being a total accident! at least rogue one tried to make it meaningful.) new to the lore of the death star or a new hope as a film, or else it'd fuck up canon.
- the misogyny. straight-up the way every single female character in this book is written (besides leia, who is barely present and once again, they kinda can't fuck up thanks to preexisting canon) is misogynistic. they are all there to be bland eye-candy (two of the three main female characters have scenes in which they undress in front of bystanders, the first of which was unnecessary and uncalled for in the story and the character who saw her strip acted uncomfortable about it. like that was just wank for the writers because star wars is allergic to not oversexualizing its alien women, especially twi'leks.) and love interests to the bland dime-a-dozen straight guys that make up the majority of the cast.
the only female character (daala, who didn't get a canonical first name until even later after this book, which says it all, really,) in the cast who does anything of note is totally robbed of all her character agency the second they can because it would interfere too much with preexisting canon, is almost fridged but wait they can't do that either because of preexisting Legends canon about her post-original trilogy, and then immediately sent away to never truly be touched on again as a legitimate character. she is purely there to boost up her male love interest, tarkin, and they don't even do a good job at that, either.
- this book has a disdain for tarkin, whom i am obviously biased towards, when they need to be treating him like they would treat every other character who matters in this book. it just doesn't care about him outside of his relationship with daala,and once again, they get rid of her as soon as possible so she doesn't interfere too much with the preexisting plot of a new hope! i am so sorry to break it to these authors, who obviously project their dislike of tarkin onto vader, whom they obviously really really really like, but tarkin and vader are, if not canonically friends (which they are, even before clone wars came out,) then they are, at the very least, more interesting as friends. i hate when people write tarkin and vader's relationship as this middling, they-both-find-the-other-one-silly-but-don't-say-anything-about-it-to-save-face, barely-there-at-all co-existence. if you're going to make them not like each other, at least TRY to make it interesting.
- speaking of bland disinterest, none of the characters the book is trying to get you to like are likeable, and there are far too many to keep up with, especially early on. i could not get emotionally invested in any of these people. i don't care. maybe if this book was one or two hundred pages longer, it could've handled such a large ensemble cast, but at its current page length, it couldn't take its time with anyone.
- once again, all the painfully forced cishet relationships, which are seemingly only there to tie the characters together more closely so they can all be there for the finale.
the good:
- darth vader's internal monologue is pretty in-character and it's interesting to get an idea of what he was thinking while a new hope was going on, even if i disagree with some of the character decisions they made due to obvious misinterpretation.
- my enjoyment and the over-all quality of the book began to rise as soon as this novel's story began intersecting more and more with a new hope, because it's kinda hard to fuck up a retelling of arguably one of the most narratively perfect films of all time.
- on paper, i really like daala and tarkin's relationship, but they barely dive into it here.
the bad:
- this book DOES NOT incorporate new details into preexisting canon well. it is hindered by preexisting canon's story beats and preexisting characters' plot armors. it cannot to save its life add or commit AT ALL to anything not totally stupid and irrelevant (like the exhaust port being a total accident! at least rogue one tried to make it meaningful.) new to the lore of the death star or a new hope as a film, or else it'd fuck up canon.
- the misogyny. straight-up the way every single female character in this book is written (besides leia, who is barely present and once again, they kinda can't fuck up thanks to preexisting canon) is misogynistic. they are all there to be bland eye-candy (two of the three main female characters have scenes in which they undress in front of bystanders, the first of which was unnecessary and uncalled for in the story and the character who saw her strip acted uncomfortable about it. like that was just wank for the writers because star wars is allergic to not oversexualizing its alien women, especially twi'leks.) and love interests to the bland dime-a-dozen straight guys that make up the majority of the cast.
- this book has a disdain for tarkin, whom i am obviously biased towards, when they need to be treating him like they would treat every other character who matters in this book. it just doesn't care about him outside of his relationship with daala,
- speaking of bland disinterest, none of the characters the book is trying to get you to like are likeable, and there are far too many to keep up with, especially early on. i could not get emotionally invested in any of these people. i don't care. maybe if this book was one or two hundred pages longer, it could've handled such a large ensemble cast, but at its current page length, it couldn't take its time with anyone.
- once again, all the painfully forced cishet relationships, which are seemingly only there to tie the characters together more closely so they can all be there for the finale.
rhganci's review
4.0
Just the book I needed to get myself reading Star Wars again—one with some solid tie-in to the movies. This book goes beyond that—it actually features lots of scenes from A New Hope in the second half of the book. It was, in a word, fantastic—easy to read, interesting, and relevant to the Star Wars mythos. I really liked the talk about the exhaust port being put in the Death Star for safety reasons, and the perspective of Vader as not-quite-human. Tarkin was surprisingly interesting and engaging, and it was easy to read. Reaves has to rank among my favorite Star Wars authors.
proffrancais's review
3.0
I have read a lot of Star Wars books, many of them good, several of them great, this one was just ok. Any main characters that are familiar to me normally are relegated to very small roles, but tahts to be expected since the story is about the station.
However, there are way too many characters at the beginning and I had a hard time focusing on who each person was. At the end of the book, I still didn't feel any attachment to the characters. It was interesting to see the story of A New Hope told from another point of view (kinda), but I don't think Ill eer reread it.
However, there are way too many characters at the beginning and I had a hard time focusing on who each person was. At the end of the book, I still didn't feel any attachment to the characters. It was interesting to see the story of A New Hope told from another point of view (kinda), but I don't think Ill eer reread it.