EU Retrospective: Lead Up to Yavin

So I didn’t actually read all four books as planned but it was not my fault!  The library has taken over two weeks to get me the requested copy of Shadow Games and I’m not so desperate to read it that I felt like delaying the Waru Express any longer than I already have.  I have struck it from the list and it will be replaced by The New Rebellion.  More likely than not, I will read it anyways once it finally arrives but not in order.  Sorry if anyone was really looking forward to my thoughts on that book.  I might include it as a footnote in another post.

But enough of that!  On with the show and three very very very different books.

Death Troopers
I really have no idea what I was expecting from this book but it probably should’ve been exactly what the book gave me.  It is definitely a horror story set in the Star Wars universe.  Surprisingly, I actually rather enjoyed it and I’m not necessarily a big horror fan.  This goes back to a comment I think I made a few posts ago about how there really is something for everyone in the Expanded Universe.  Schrieber introduces mostly new characters and I even found myself caring about some of them particularly the doctor, Zahara Cody.

I was not, however, expecting Han and Chewbacca to show up.  Wow do those two get around and attract a lot of danger in the process.  Maybe they should considering retiring to a nice quiet planet without any moons.  Joe Schreiber actually writes a pretty good Han and Chewbacca.  I especially liked how he wrote scenes from Chewbacca’s point of view instead of taking the easy way out and writing them from Han’s.  The only “criticism” I have isn’t actually a criticism but just a comment that there wasn’t much tension in regards to their fates since the book is set before A New Hope.

All in all, it’s a short (and I really do mean short at only 234 pages) read but definitely worth it especially if you’d like a change from the Expanded Universe status quo.  At the very least, it’s worth a try.  Zombies on a Star Destroyer, folks, zombies on a Star Destroyer.  What’s not to love?

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