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A review by jaredkwheeler
Death Star by Steve Perry, Michael Reaves
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-