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dmcke013's review against another edition
2.0
An OK addition to (the books I've read in) the Star Wars canon, the main focus of this one is obviously about the eponymous Doomsday device built by the Empire: the dreaded Death Star.
The vast majority of the book is actually about the construction of the same, told from the viewpoint of several different characters involved in and living on it, with the culmination of the novel the events that take place during "A New Hope".
In short, there's better 'expanded universe' Star Wars books out there.
The vast majority of the book is actually about the construction of the same, told from the viewpoint of several different characters involved in and living on it, with the culmination of the novel the events that take place during "A New Hope".
In short, there's better 'expanded universe' Star Wars books out there.
ks2_alwaysreading's review against another edition
5.0
Oh my goodness! This book is awesome! Fan of Star Wars: It's a must read!
berenikeasteria's review against another edition
4.0
This book really exceeded my expectations. Being a Star Wars book, I was interested enough to pick it up, but given that it appeared to focus on the story of an inanimate battle station, and a story which has been covered before by A New Hope, I approached it with the expectation that it would not be up there with the best books of the Star Wars saga. In addition, critics had condemned it as boring, slow and too long. Assuredly, it did take a couple of chapters to get into. The protagonists, our "ordinary beings", were new, so they needed to be introduced and given a little while for the reader to care about them. This took up the first six chapters, and it was a little disjointed, jumping from one new character to the next in order to get all the introductions done. However, once this part was over and done with, the plot starts to move along at a steady pace. Once you get to this stage, the book becomes a real page turner. Usually, each chapter deals with one of the characters, the next chapter jumping to another one, and so forth, but each chapter is just long enough to provide an extra titbit of meaty information or action for our characters, and just short enough that you’ll be eagerly turning the pages to find out what happens to them next, and whilst you’re doing that, you find out the next little bit of what happens to that character you read about three chapters ago, and so forth.
The big names appear where appropriate, and oversee events throughout – Motti, Daala, Tarkin and Darth Vader – but they do not overshadow the book. The stars of this show are our nine ordinary guys – plus of course, the Death Star itself. That said, the brief scenes with our bigshots do reveal a bit more information about them, their motivations, and this period in the Star Wars galaxy, and in addition, some of most exciting scenes involve incidents where our ordinary guys come face to face with their formidable superiors – there’s a hilarious scene where one of them encounters Darth Vader coming the opposite direction down a corridor, I won’t say any more, but it was pure gold. Because we’re mostly sitting on the shoulders of the ordinary folk, these encounters with the higher ups, who will already be familiar characters to Star Wars readers, become thrilling, nerve-wracking and awe-struck – like an average joe running into a celebrity on the street. This speaks of the quality of this collaboration of authors, that they have made brief encounters with these highly familiar characters, exciting and new again. The ordinary characters do strike you as quintessentially ordinary, yet each of them has a unique backstory, finely tuned personality, and their own reasons for being on the Death Star. There wasn’t a massive amount on the backstory of these characters, but there didn’t need to be – these were totally new characters that the readers wouldn’t care for yet, an extensive backstory would have been unnecessary, and enough was given for the purposes of establishing their origins and the point from which they all begin. I sort of sensed that the individual strands would come together in the end, but despite that, the story was still engaging.
Another criticism that was levelled at this book was that the ending was boring – a tiresome retelling of the original, Episode IV: A New Hope film, except from a different point of view. After reading it myself, I feel this is an unfair criticism. The reappearance of film scenes are few in number, and built up a steadily increasing pressure all the way to the end – will our protagonists make it off the Death Star before Luke drops a proton torpedo into its reactor core? In addition, I thought these scenes were great because it showed that new characters could interact with an established story and still get away with the whole thing being plausible as canon. Perhaps one criticism that can be made is that the book is a little lacking in action, and it was slightly conventional that the two couples survive, also there were hints that there might be a confrontation scene between Darth Vader and Kornell Divini who puts in an illegal request for medical information on midi-chlorians in response to a patient’s affliction, but. Such a scene would have been fantastic. Nevertheless, the writing is high quality, the pacing perfect, and the characters detailed and realistic.
7 out of 10.
The big names appear where appropriate, and oversee events throughout – Motti, Daala, Tarkin and Darth Vader – but they do not overshadow the book. The stars of this show are our nine ordinary guys – plus of course, the Death Star itself. That said, the brief scenes with our bigshots do reveal a bit more information about them, their motivations, and this period in the Star Wars galaxy, and in addition, some of most exciting scenes involve incidents where our ordinary guys come face to face with their formidable superiors – there’s a hilarious scene where one of them encounters Darth Vader coming the opposite direction down a corridor, I won’t say any more, but it was pure gold. Because we’re mostly sitting on the shoulders of the ordinary folk, these encounters with the higher ups, who will already be familiar characters to Star Wars readers, become thrilling, nerve-wracking and awe-struck – like an average joe running into a celebrity on the street. This speaks of the quality of this collaboration of authors, that they have made brief encounters with these highly familiar characters, exciting and new again. The ordinary characters do strike you as quintessentially ordinary, yet each of them has a unique backstory, finely tuned personality, and their own reasons for being on the Death Star. There wasn’t a massive amount on the backstory of these characters, but there didn’t need to be – these were totally new characters that the readers wouldn’t care for yet, an extensive backstory would have been unnecessary, and enough was given for the purposes of establishing their origins and the point from which they all begin. I sort of sensed that the individual strands would come together in the end, but despite that, the story was still engaging.
Another criticism that was levelled at this book was that the ending was boring – a tiresome retelling of the original, Episode IV: A New Hope film, except from a different point of view. After reading it myself, I feel this is an unfair criticism. The reappearance of film scenes are few in number, and built up a steadily increasing pressure all the way to the end – will our protagonists make it off the Death Star before Luke drops a proton torpedo into its reactor core? In addition, I thought these scenes were great because it showed that new characters could interact with an established story and still get away with the whole thing being plausible as canon. Perhaps one criticism that can be made is that the book is a little lacking in action, and it was slightly conventional that the two couples survive, also there were hints that there might be a confrontation scene between Darth Vader and Kornell Divini who puts in an illegal request for medical information on midi-chlorians in response to a patient’s affliction, but
Spoiler
disappointingly this promised scene never occurs and Divini is simply arrested7 out of 10.
crystalstarrlight's review against another edition
2.0
Death Star or How I Learned to Fall Asleep and Leave the Empire
Normally, I do not bother buying the hardcover editions. They are rather expensive and hard to carry around. But when I saw this one signed by both authors, I figured why not. Ever since the movie, The Empire Strikes Back, I have adored the Empire. So, I leapt into this one as soon as I had the opportunity.
As Star Wars geeks know, the Death Star has been around in various stages since around the time of The Phantom Menace (as mentioned in the book, Rogue Planet). But only after Revenge of the Sith has it been possible to start construction on this beast of a weapon. With construction underway, the Empire is having some difficulties. Labor problems, sabotage, and power struggles are only the tip of the iceberg, as we know that the ominous weapon is about to have an infamous encounter with a simple farm boy.
What I Liked:
From the moment I saw him in A New Hope, Grand Moff Tarkin has fascinated me. I will be bold and say that he is probably my favorite Imperial, but most certainly the epitome of an Imperial officer. I enjoyed reading about him in Rogue Planet and hearing about him in Jedi Academy Trilogy. But these appearances didn't cut it; he was much younger or a side-long character shown in flashback. Being able to see him just before his big screen debut is fun and enlightening. Not to mention that the authors actually do a pretty good job of maintaining his characterization, as seen in A New Hope.
This leads to my next favorite attribute about the book: it is about the Empire. So many of the Star Wars Expanded Universe books have been set after the Empire is destroyed (post-Jedi) that characters like Tarkin and Darth Vader don't get a chance to be ominous (or alive). Even more recently, with the release of the prequels, much time is spent (understandably) with the Clone Wars. So now that the story line is mostly finished, it is great that authors get to have some reign in the twenty year (according to Star Wars continuity) Imperial reign. It is even cooler to see what the Imperials thought of the actions during the movie (but this is also a point that I have a problem with, see below).
Furthermore, some important questions were answered. If the Jedi had only been extinct for a mere twenty years, why did no one seem to remember them? Well, the book explains that with "Because such talk is banned, adults shut up and don't tell their children". This is why Luke is not so knowledgeable about it (and also explains why Leia is). Even the midichlorian concept is somewhat explained. With all the floating pieces in the Star Wars continuity, it is nice to see books that attempt to fill in the gaps.
What I Did Not Like:
Well, this book was not nearly as enjoyable as I had hoped. I found many problems with it, which caused me to lack interest and thus take forever to finish it.
1.Too many characters. At first glance, the Dramatis Personae doesn't seem to be very imposing with a cast at about a dozen names. I mean, the Republic Commando novels had several characters, but most of those were very sidelong characters (which, by the way, I did not enjoy; in my opinion, the Dramatis Personae should be reserved for major characters). In Death Star, each name mentioned in the Dramatis Personae is given multiple point of views (pov). With about 360 pages and 13 characters, this gives approximately 27 pages per character. Let me repeat that: only 27 pages can be devoted to each of the equally important characters. How is a person supposed to develop any bond to characters if they, on average, have only 27 pages to talk about themselves?
2.Poor characterizations. Hand in hand with too many characters, comes poor characterization. Besides perhaps Tarkin, Darth Vader, and Celot Dil, the characters are as flat as an empty tortilla shell. Atour is not even introduced until about halfway through the book and even then, you keep wondering why the authors bothered to throw him in. Daala goes from being a strong female Imperial officer to a Mary Sue of an atrocious kind (I do not think this is anything like what Kevin J. Anderson had in mind). I forgot all about Kornell from the MedStar dulogy. Reading his "entries" made me realize why I had forgotten him (e.g., he made little impression). Memah and Rodo have a worthless backstory (who cares how they got onto the Death Star!). I could see Nova's "Jedi" potential coming from a mile away. Tenn, Motti, and Villan had potential but not enough time (Tenn grew more interesting towards the end with his conflict over firing the Death Star, but it was hard to feel it as I didn't really know him). And Teela...oh, don't get me started on her. Being able to "reject" Darth Vader's mind presence and being a super-architect (architects deal with drawings; engineers do the design work, the calculations, and the analysis)...let's just say, she wasn't my favorite character. All these people at the end meet in a very contrived fashion and decide all together that the Empire is bad and needs to be destroyed. For once, I would like to see someone in the Empire who wasn't power hungry or desiring to join the Rebel Alliance. Where are those dedicated to the Imperial cause?
3.Story starts too early. This one took me some time to notice, but when I did, I wondered how I missed it. The story starts with a (very brief) backstory of where the character is and how the character finds him/herself on the Death Star. This could work if the characters were better, but since the characters are so vague and uninteresting, reading about where they are pre-Death Star and how they get on the Death Star redefines the word "boring".
4.Little action. About the most exciting part of the first section of the book is when Celot Dil escapes Despayre and gets onto the Death Star. The second part, which covers the material in the movie, is much more action packed, but seriously, for a Star Wars book, this is one of the least action-packed books I have read.
5.Unknown timeline. How long does it take to go from the beginning of the book to the end? As an old professor used to say: "Yes". To me, it would make sense for a few years to pass, but how much time actually passes is never clearly stated. All we know is that the book does terminate at 0 BBY. Not very helpful.
6.Excessive detail. Ever wanted to know how the Death Star's guns worked? What sort of detail had to be placed into designing the Death Star? The details of a surgery? Well, this is the book for you. I know it wasn't for me. I nearly fell asleep when Tenn talked about how he didn't trust the engineers (what is it with this book and bashing engineers?) with the Death Star's guns or when Teela went to painful extents to talk about how difficult her job was. If I wanted this much detail, I would have gotten a non-fiction book about these things.
7.Romance. Gosh! Don't let these guys near romance! All three of the romance stories are completely bungled up. The Tarkin/Daala angle might have been interesting had Daala not been reduced to a play toy. Memah/Celot's romance made me gag. And seeing how Teela and Vil got together was nothing new at all. Please, please, please, Michael, Steve, never, ever, ever write a romance sub-plot again!
8.Unanswered questions. How do the Rebels get the Death Star plans? How do they sabotage the Death Star? How does Admiral Daala find out the information about the destruction of the Star Destroyer before people who were actually there? Why in the heck does the Death Star have a "fem" store when the Empire doesn't even approve of female officers? Well, if you wanted these questions answered in this book, just stop right now. They won't be.
9.Movie Overlap. This point is one of those gray areas. On one hand, I really enjoyed reading about the Imperials' perspectives, their feelings, thoughts, etc. On the other hand, I got tired of the word-for-word account of the movie (and how everyone gets to see Princess Leia, Han, Luke, and Chewie). A little goes a long way.
Dialogue/Sexual Situations/Violence:
Star Wars language is about as rough as it gets.
Twi'lek females are described in a slightly sexualized manner. Tarkin calls Admiral Daala to the Death Star for a "personal" briefing. One scene includes him in bed and Daala coming out of the shower. He also talks about how on fire he is despite his age. Romantic sparks fly across the Death Star along with the innuendos attached to the romantic situations.
Despayre is a prisoner planet, filled with violence and death. Nova Stihl is a martial artist. He and Rodo, the bouncer, end up in a few fights. Also, several big explosions (i.e. Alderaan) occur in the book.
Overall:
I was hoping for so much to happen in this book. I was looking forward to Tarkin, Darth Vader, and Admiral Motti. I was looking forward to seeing how the Death Star was constructed. I was looking forward to seeing how the Rebels stole the plans. I was looking forward to seeing the Empire in full bloom.
Man, am I disappointed! Tarkin, Darth Vader, and Motti are here...in between almost 12 other characters. The Death Star is constructed...but it sure isn't the focus of this novel. The Rebels stole the Death Star plans? Golly, I would never have known from this book! At least the Empire is in full bloom...but no one is dedicated to it once they find out how "bad" the Empire is.
Ultimately, I really don't think the long wait to find out what happened before young Luke's fateful adventure was worth it. The novel, written by authors who deftly created the MedStar duology (and outdid themselves, in my opinion) and their own individual accomplishments (remember the stunning Shadow Hunter by Reaves or the amazing Shadows of the Empire by Perry?), write the most boring, fluff novel that I have seen in the Star Wars universe. And they named it "Death Star"? Hm, I think a better title would be: "Bored Star". Even the second act, much more action packed than the first, could not save the book. Very poor entry into the Star Wars world. I would not recommend.
Normally, I do not bother buying the hardcover editions. They are rather expensive and hard to carry around. But when I saw this one signed by both authors, I figured why not. Ever since the movie, The Empire Strikes Back, I have adored the Empire. So, I leapt into this one as soon as I had the opportunity.
As Star Wars geeks know, the Death Star has been around in various stages since around the time of The Phantom Menace (as mentioned in the book, Rogue Planet). But only after Revenge of the Sith has it been possible to start construction on this beast of a weapon. With construction underway, the Empire is having some difficulties. Labor problems, sabotage, and power struggles are only the tip of the iceberg, as we know that the ominous weapon is about to have an infamous encounter with a simple farm boy.
What I Liked:
From the moment I saw him in A New Hope, Grand Moff Tarkin has fascinated me. I will be bold and say that he is probably my favorite Imperial, but most certainly the epitome of an Imperial officer. I enjoyed reading about him in Rogue Planet and hearing about him in Jedi Academy Trilogy. But these appearances didn't cut it; he was much younger or a side-long character shown in flashback. Being able to see him just before his big screen debut is fun and enlightening. Not to mention that the authors actually do a pretty good job of maintaining his characterization, as seen in A New Hope.
This leads to my next favorite attribute about the book: it is about the Empire. So many of the Star Wars Expanded Universe books have been set after the Empire is destroyed (post-Jedi) that characters like Tarkin and Darth Vader don't get a chance to be ominous (or alive). Even more recently, with the release of the prequels, much time is spent (understandably) with the Clone Wars. So now that the story line is mostly finished, it is great that authors get to have some reign in the twenty year (according to Star Wars continuity) Imperial reign. It is even cooler to see what the Imperials thought of the actions during the movie (but this is also a point that I have a problem with, see below).
Furthermore, some important questions were answered. If the Jedi had only been extinct for a mere twenty years, why did no one seem to remember them? Well, the book explains that with "Because such talk is banned, adults shut up and don't tell their children". This is why Luke is not so knowledgeable about it (and also explains why Leia is). Even the midichlorian concept is somewhat explained. With all the floating pieces in the Star Wars continuity, it is nice to see books that attempt to fill in the gaps.
What I Did Not Like:
Well, this book was not nearly as enjoyable as I had hoped. I found many problems with it, which caused me to lack interest and thus take forever to finish it.
1.Too many characters. At first glance, the Dramatis Personae doesn't seem to be very imposing with a cast at about a dozen names. I mean, the Republic Commando novels had several characters, but most of those were very sidelong characters (which, by the way, I did not enjoy; in my opinion, the Dramatis Personae should be reserved for major characters). In Death Star, each name mentioned in the Dramatis Personae is given multiple point of views (pov). With about 360 pages and 13 characters, this gives approximately 27 pages per character. Let me repeat that: only 27 pages can be devoted to each of the equally important characters. How is a person supposed to develop any bond to characters if they, on average, have only 27 pages to talk about themselves?
2.Poor characterizations. Hand in hand with too many characters, comes poor characterization. Besides perhaps Tarkin, Darth Vader, and Celot Dil, the characters are as flat as an empty tortilla shell. Atour is not even introduced until about halfway through the book and even then, you keep wondering why the authors bothered to throw him in. Daala goes from being a strong female Imperial officer to a Mary Sue of an atrocious kind (I do not think this is anything like what Kevin J. Anderson had in mind). I forgot all about Kornell from the MedStar dulogy. Reading his "entries" made me realize why I had forgotten him (e.g., he made little impression). Memah and Rodo have a worthless backstory (who cares how they got onto the Death Star!). I could see Nova's "Jedi" potential coming from a mile away. Tenn, Motti, and Villan had potential but not enough time (Tenn grew more interesting towards the end with his conflict over firing the Death Star, but it was hard to feel it as I didn't really know him). And Teela...oh, don't get me started on her. Being able to "reject" Darth Vader's mind presence and being a super-architect (architects deal with drawings; engineers do the design work, the calculations, and the analysis)...let's just say, she wasn't my favorite character. All these people at the end meet in a very contrived fashion and decide all together that the Empire is bad and needs to be destroyed. For once, I would like to see someone in the Empire who wasn't power hungry or desiring to join the Rebel Alliance. Where are those dedicated to the Imperial cause?
3.Story starts too early. This one took me some time to notice, but when I did, I wondered how I missed it. The story starts with a (very brief) backstory of where the character is and how the character finds him/herself on the Death Star. This could work if the characters were better, but since the characters are so vague and uninteresting, reading about where they are pre-Death Star and how they get on the Death Star redefines the word "boring".
4.Little action. About the most exciting part of the first section of the book is when Celot Dil escapes Despayre and gets onto the Death Star. The second part, which covers the material in the movie, is much more action packed, but seriously, for a Star Wars book, this is one of the least action-packed books I have read.
5.Unknown timeline. How long does it take to go from the beginning of the book to the end? As an old professor used to say: "Yes". To me, it would make sense for a few years to pass, but how much time actually passes is never clearly stated. All we know is that the book does terminate at 0 BBY. Not very helpful.
6.Excessive detail. Ever wanted to know how the Death Star's guns worked? What sort of detail had to be placed into designing the Death Star? The details of a surgery? Well, this is the book for you. I know it wasn't for me. I nearly fell asleep when Tenn talked about how he didn't trust the engineers (what is it with this book and bashing engineers?) with the Death Star's guns or when Teela went to painful extents to talk about how difficult her job was. If I wanted this much detail, I would have gotten a non-fiction book about these things.
7.Romance. Gosh! Don't let these guys near romance! All three of the romance stories are completely bungled up. The Tarkin/Daala angle might have been interesting had Daala not been reduced to a play toy. Memah/Celot's romance made me gag. And seeing how Teela and Vil got together was nothing new at all. Please, please, please, Michael, Steve, never, ever, ever write a romance sub-plot again!
8.Unanswered questions. How do the Rebels get the Death Star plans? How do they sabotage the Death Star? How does Admiral Daala find out the information about the destruction of the Star Destroyer before people who were actually there? Why in the heck does the Death Star have a "fem" store when the Empire doesn't even approve of female officers? Well, if you wanted these questions answered in this book, just stop right now. They won't be.
9.Movie Overlap. This point is one of those gray areas. On one hand, I really enjoyed reading about the Imperials' perspectives, their feelings, thoughts, etc. On the other hand, I got tired of the word-for-word account of the movie (and how everyone gets to see Princess Leia, Han, Luke, and Chewie). A little goes a long way.
Dialogue/Sexual Situations/Violence:
Star Wars language is about as rough as it gets.
Twi'lek females are described in a slightly sexualized manner. Tarkin calls Admiral Daala to the Death Star for a "personal" briefing. One scene includes him in bed and Daala coming out of the shower. He also talks about how on fire he is despite his age. Romantic sparks fly across the Death Star along with the innuendos attached to the romantic situations.
Despayre is a prisoner planet, filled with violence and death. Nova Stihl is a martial artist. He and Rodo, the bouncer, end up in a few fights. Also, several big explosions (i.e. Alderaan) occur in the book.
Overall:
I was hoping for so much to happen in this book. I was looking forward to Tarkin, Darth Vader, and Admiral Motti. I was looking forward to seeing how the Death Star was constructed. I was looking forward to seeing how the Rebels stole the plans. I was looking forward to seeing the Empire in full bloom.
Man, am I disappointed! Tarkin, Darth Vader, and Motti are here...in between almost 12 other characters. The Death Star is constructed...but it sure isn't the focus of this novel. The Rebels stole the Death Star plans? Golly, I would never have known from this book! At least the Empire is in full bloom...but no one is dedicated to it once they find out how "bad" the Empire is.
Ultimately, I really don't think the long wait to find out what happened before young Luke's fateful adventure was worth it. The novel, written by authors who deftly created the MedStar duology (and outdid themselves, in my opinion) and their own individual accomplishments (remember the stunning Shadow Hunter by Reaves or the amazing Shadows of the Empire by Perry?), write the most boring, fluff novel that I have seen in the Star Wars universe. And they named it "Death Star"? Hm, I think a better title would be: "Bored Star". Even the second act, much more action packed than the first, could not save the book. Very poor entry into the Star Wars world. I would not recommend.
kittic's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
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? Yes
4.0
Science fiction battle stations don't get anymore iconic than the Death Star. In this jaunt through inception, build, operation and ultimate destruction Reaves and Perry flesh out the story which largely occurs off camera in the original trilogy. It is told through the viewpoint of many of the Death Star's inhabitants which makes it an even more interesting read. Fans of the movies and fans of hard science fiction will each enjoy elements of this book. The science of the battle station and the architecture of her build are heavily detailed while the dialogue in later parts is straight from the scripts of the early Lucas screenplays.
jtashoff's review against another edition
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 against another edition
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