Star Wars: Death Star [Hardcover]

So did anybody who watched the original Star Wars movie wonder about the origin of that massive battle station, the Death Star? Or were you intrigued by the image at the end of Episode III, with it slowly being built in the distance as the new Darth Vader, the Emperor, and Tarkin look out the window? Michael Reaves and Steve Perry have written Death Star, the story of not only the creation of the station, but also the Imperial story behind the first movie, all the way up to the station's destruction. Unfortunately, what they've forgotten to give us are interesting characters to wrap the story around.

While the concept of Death Star is extremely interesting, I have a lot of problems with the execution. Reaves and Perry give us all of these new characters to get involved with, anchoring them with the viewpoints of Tarkin and Vader as well, but they fail to make the new characters very interesting. Of course, they all pair up in various romantic entanglements, and of course none of the Imperial officers we see like what Tarkin and Vader are doing once the Death Star actually starts being used. It would have been nice to have a main character (perhaps not a viewpoint character, but one who is in the same circle as the ones we do get) who actually supports the bad guys. It would have made for some interesting conflict among them. But no, instead we're given a couple of normal military officers who quickly turn once they see the true evil of the Empire.

Because of the overwhelming disinterest I had with the main characters, the building of the station actually is a chore to read. This quickly goes away when Tarkin and Vader are "on screen," as we see just how determined Tarkin is to get the Death Star going. We see his ruthlessness, but we also see a (somewhat, anyway) softer side in his affair with Admiral Daala (I'll give those of you who have a twinge at the thought of Tarkin actually having sex a moment to collect yourselves, but take heart that at least it's all only implied in the book). Vader is sent by the Emperor to help the investigation into a couple of rebel attempts to sabotage the station before it's completed, which sort of explains why he's almost acting as Tarkin's lackey in the first movie. In Death Star, he's willing to let Tarkin's ego take apparent control, but he's ready to step in if necessary.

The book gets most intriguing when the first movie starts. It's almost like getting a behind the scenes look at the events of the movie as we see the thought processes from the Imperial side. It's all very interesting, and these sequences are also the only times the original characters become even remotely interesting as well. The characters start reacting to the events that we've already seen, and realizing what they may have gotten themselves into. The writing of the book also gets a lot more interesting here, as it becomes a bit more action than the more boring set-up at the beginning of the book. Thankfully, none of this continuity gets in the way of the story. I appreciated that.

This book would have been a standout if Reaves and Perry had made their original characters interesting. Instead, it takes the action in Death Star, at least halfway through the book, to make this reader become engaged with them at all. Thus, we get an interesting idea, some cool intertwining with one of the movies, and some cool Vader/Tarkin scenes to tide us over until we get to more boring scenes. This makes an excellent book thoroughly average instead. You won't regret reading it, but it could have been so much better.

David Roy

Death Star is a fascinating look into the build, operation and destruction of the iconic Battle Station, introducing you to new characters and events in the lead up to and background of episode 4. I like this book but I agree that this can drift at times and I have few negatives:
1) The timeline doesn't really fit. The station seems to be completed very, very quickly compared the films timeline but I may be reading too much into this.
2) Some of the characters are a bit useless and mutiny appears to be easy in Palpatine's Empire - not convinced.
3) My biggest problem is this reluctance to kill off characters in recent novels. WHY? We know that destruction comes, we know how, why and when. Why constantly save characters with no future? Surely the shock factor is negated by the knowledge of events to come. So why dilute the impact of the book?
Anyway, despite this I found this a bold effort into areas where they knew lightsabers, Jedi, force powers and star fights would be at a minimum. So, well done to the author for exploring a difficult area, and keeping me invested in the book to the end.
Fans of ANH will like the crossovers. New to star wars books and after some Jedi/Sith stuff? Leave this until later. But do come back!

I bought the book with doubts after such harsh reviews and I don't regret it. It's nice to read and it gets to into the background of the people building living in the Death Star.

The only mayor flaw I see is that it hardly tells you anything about the origin of the Death Star, who designed it, etc.