The "Death Star" Novel Thread

[Cydon]

I'm not finding this by searching the forum, so.... Speculation Time!

http://www.starwars.com/eu/lit/novel/news20070418.html

EDIT: And here's T-Bone's Newsfeed:

http://www.theforce.net/latestnews/story/Death_Star_is_Approaching_105140.asp

[Zedekk]

I bet they get it built this time! :w00t:

[Cydon]

Hopefully they don't cancel it. They shall suffer if it does! Don't ask me how!

[Sam Kenobi]

I think that the Death Star book is far more along in production was then the Plagius book. I would be suprised if they cancelled it.

[Cydon]

Hey, you never know...

[Zedekk]

So this book is to the Star Wars fans what the movie Titanic was to movie-goers in the late 1990s.

[Cydon]

? Perhaps....

[Zedekk]

Well I mean in as much as we all know that the Death Star gets blowed up by one skywalker while being defended by another. Ultimatly we know its a "sunk" ship. And Titanic was no surprise that it was going down as well. the lives of the people working/living on the ship will be the focus maybe even how the plans got leaked out. I wonder what angle the book will take? will it be pro-empire and anti-rebellion? or will it try to present a "balanced" idea of the construction of a space station of that scale.

[Cydon]

Ahh. Thanks. I don't think the book will go into A New Hope. I hope it'll be pro-Empire!

[empire21]

Now this sounds very interesting, i'm not going to look forward to it like I did the Plagueis novel in case it gets cancelled, but if all goes well, i'll be reading this one.

[Sam Kenobi]

We can't look at every book now and not get excited about it just because one novel was cancelled. I believe the Plagius novel will be back, or at the least covered in some other medium. At the same time, this novel is farther along then that one was. Obviously, anything can happen, but I think we'll be seeing this one.

[Darth Massacrus]

You know how Alliegance had a role about the ISB? Well, the Death Star had ISB officers like Colonel Wullf Yularen and Evax aboard it, and maybe they will be featured. Same for folks like Admiral Motti and General Tagge, and Chief Bast and Officer Cass. Who knows?? Anyways, seeing some of those guys from ANH, or folks like Ars Dangor, who other EU sources link to the Death Star and Tarkin, ought to appear.

[Konig15]

Holy crap! I needed a good excuse to drive back into the EU, I need to read this book before I go back to Law School! Sweet! :w00t:

[Ripley]

Looks like raptors exist in the GFFA from the cover.

[Master Magnus]

The Official Site has revealed the entire cover (both front and back) here (http://starwars.com/eu/lit/novel/news20070517.html).

[Zedekk]

Sweet!:w00t:

[empire21]

Me likey. :yes:

[Sam Kenobi]

Looks like raptors exist in the GFFA from the cover.

I don't get it.

[empire21]

I don't get it.

Raptors are ships from Battlestar Galactica and the ship on the cover kind of looks like one too Ripley I guess.

[Sam Kenobi]

Gotcha.

[Master Magnus]

*Bump*

I ordered this novel today (it's three more days until it's released).

[eddie]

Got mine on pre-order, together with Mad About Star Wars... I have high hopes for this book as I hope earlier establishes continuity of the Death Star will be fleshed out more evenly! (i.e. Despayre, the Maw)

[Sam Kenobi]

I am very excited about this book from an interview that Perry and the other author who's name I can't recall at the moment had in Insider.

[Lord Tesla]

I am very excited about this book from an interview that Perry and the other author who's name I can't recall at the moment had in Insider.

Michael Reaves. I haven't read the interview yet. But the fact that Reaves wrote the wretched Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter gives me very little reason to be enthusiastic about this one.

Nevertheless, Tuesday I shall make the trek to B&N in search of a copy. It's Star Wars! And as soon as I'm done with Spin, I'll attack the Death Star.

[Morridini]

Wasn't Shadow Hunter a good book?

This Death Star book is going to sort out the continuity error at the end of RotS right? It will explain how building the first Death Star could possibly take 20 years while a much bigger one was almost completed in two years right?

[Master Magnus]

This Death Star book is going to sort out the continuity error at the end of RotS right? It will explain how building the first Death Star could possibly take 20 years while a much bigger one was almost completed in two years right?
I haven't heard anything specific, but then we have Lucas's not to serious comments from the DVD commentary that it took 19 years to build the first Death Star due to "union disputes and supply problems". The Death Star in ROTS doesn't look quite right (which is strange since they made the designs in AOTC look flawless) and perhaps they will take it from there.

[Lord Tesla]

Wasn't Shadow Hunter a good book?

Uhm, no. To save space here, there's a review written when it was released, which does a pretty good job of cataloging its many profound defects, at this URL:

http://www.echostation.com/books/shadowhunter.htm

This Death Star book is going to sort out the continuity error at the end of RotS right? It will explain how building the first Death Star could possibly take 20 years while a much bigger one was almost completed in two years right?

I'm not sure if it will do that. I'm not sure it's even a continuity glitch. It's been my theory that the second Death Star only appeared to have been built in approximately 2 years. I have always thought that construction on DSII started shortly after DS I. First, for redundancy. Something might happen to the first one. Irremediable problems encountered in construction of the first could be addressed in second (to say nothing of less severe problems). Second, it would allow lessons learned and new advances to brought online quickly in the battle to suppress chaotic elements in the galaxy. Third, it's a big freakin' galaxy, and one Death Star could never cover the whole thing effectively: they needed two. Fourth, it is the Sith way: Always two there are... Fifth, Palpatine had excellent foresight, and might have foreseen he'd need a second, no matter how invulnerable he had been assured it would be.

[Master Magnus]

Uhm, no. To save space here, there's a review written when it was released, which does a pretty good job of cataloging its many profound defects, at this URL:

http://www.echostation.com/books/shadowhunter.htm

Remember that personal opinions are just that, opinions.


I'm not sure if it will do that. I'm not sure it's even a continuity glitch. It's been my theory that the second Death Star only appeared to have been built in approximately 2 years. I have always thought that construction on DSII started shortly after DS I.
That theory doesn't quite make it as the ROTJ opening scroll contradicts it:
Little does Luke know that the
GALACTIC EMPIRE has secretly
begun construction on a new
armored space station even
more powerful than the first
dreaded Death Star.
Other canon sources such as Shadows of the Empire and The Complete Locations makes it clear that construction started shortly after the Battle of Hoth.

[Lord Tesla]

Remember that personal opinions are just that, opinions.

I'm not sure I follow. I certainly didn't mean to imply anything to the contrary.

However, the novel in question does suffer from some glaring defects, and the review I linked to does a pretty good job of nailing the major ones, such as inconsistencies regarding what Jedi were able to do in other novels (and films) and what they were able to do in Shadow Hunter, the wild mismatch in Maul's novel diction with his admittedly meager film diction, the flightiness of Darsha what'shername the Padawan (I think Dexter called her Gidget at one point, and it fits), the extreme similarity of Lorn Pavan and Han Solo, and the fact that the novel was set so close to TPM that it was virtually impossible for the novel to succeeded, because none of the major characters, certainly not title-boy Maul, could have been put in any credible danger, because we knew the major players survived into TPM, and that Maul and Palpatine survived with their secrets intact.

Now, these things might not matter to everyone. Opinions do vary. No big deal. But they were still there.



That theory doesn't quite make it as the ROTJ opening scroll contradicts it:

Well, the scroll says what it says. But what it says isn't exactly what we see. "[H]as...begun construction": DS II was well past the first weld. Construction had begun, but when? It was ongoing, true, but the beginning was obviously long past. How long? Well, figuring that out is the real trick, isn't it?


Other canon sources such as Shadows of the Empire and The Complete Locations makes it clear that construction started shortly after the Battle of Hoth.


Shadows of the Empire...by Steve Perry. I knew Perry's name seemed familiar for a reason. Now I'm even more dubious about the DS novel--but that's beside the point.

Not sure how canonical that one is. I tend to take the novels with a serious grain of salt.

I reread the sections of The Complete Locations on both Death Stars, and I couldn't find a reference to the start-date for DS II in either one. Could you vector me in on a page number?

[Morridini]

Shadows of the Empire is as much canon as anything can get, if that was the one you were not sure about.

[Lord Tesla]

Shadows of the Empire is as much canon as anything can get, if that was the one you were not sure about.

Indeed, it was that novel to which I referred. It's been years, so my recall may be less than perfect, but it seems there are things about Xizor,his orbital elevator, and the interrelation of the Sith and galactic organized crime that simply won't hold water in the post-prequel era we inhabit. But that's true of a lot of the novels, which is why I take them with a grain of salt.

[Sam Kenobi]

I think that SotE is one of the most important EU books out there. It's underrated.

Perry and Reaves also wrote the MedStar Duology, which I enjoyed a lot. I believe Reaves and another author wrote The Force Heretic Trilogy in the NJO.

[Lord Tesla]

I think that SotE is one of the most important EU books out there. It's underrated.

I think similarly of The Truce at Bakura. If memory serves, Luke's characterization was the most plausible in any of the novels, maybe even better than in ROTJ itself.

Perry and Reaves also wrote the MedStar Duology, which I enjoyed a lot. I believe Reaves and another author wrote The Force Heretic Trilogy in the NJO.

I was noticing that they'd written those two; I haven't yet read them. Maybe their writing has improved. Maybe the two together are better than either separately. But I'm not getting my hopes up.

The Force Heretic Trilogy is actually the work of Sean Williams and Shane Dix.:yoda:

[Sam Kenobi]

Ah. You are correct, sir.

[Master Magnus]

I didn't receive the novel today as I had hoped. Bummer. Hopefully it'll arrive tomorrow.

[eddie]

Lucky you! I've got an email yesterday-evening that they shipped it out (but it will take about 10 days to arrive here). And a few hours later, Amazon mailed me that they've sent Mad about Star Wars (which was in the same order: why they've sent it apart with only a few hours in-between beats me...)

[Master Magnus]

^I received the confirmation email (that the book had been shipped) this Saturday (I ordered it from a Swedish sci-fi bookstore which always seems to have the new novels etc. on the US release date) so I should have it by tomorrow (or Thursday at the latest).

[DarthSolo]

This is hardback, yeah? Not paperback?

[Morridini]

Evil "Hardback" indeed.

[Lord Tesla]

Okay, I got mine at 1535 PDT on Tuesday. I haven't really had a chance to do more than glance at the dramatis personae at the front of the book, but already...

Well, one or two of the new names seem, well, ill-chosen.

More to follow.

[Master Magnus]

^Lucky you, I didn't receive mine today either.

[Lord Tesla]

^Lucky you, I didn't receive mine today either.

Well, not that lucky: I bought at Borders because the B&N site told me it wasn't available in the local B&N store, only to find out later in the day that it was indeed available at a better price at B&N.

Hmmm. Since it seems I'm the first to make contact with it, should I claim the novel in the name of the Galactic Senate? Maybe play the Imperial March and attach a post-it with the Imperial starburst on it?

For the record, I'm 15 pages in. And I have one question:

Has any other source ever given Admiral Motti's full name? I didn't see it in the most recent edition of The Essential Guide to Characters.

[Lord Tesla]

For the record, I'm 15 pages in. And I have one question:

Has any other source ever given Admiral Motti's full name? I didn't see it in the most recent edition of The Essential Guide to Characters.



Awww...CRAP. I just found a reference, and it looks like Darth Plaid may be responsible for this one.

Ooooookay. Never mind. :yoda:

[Morridini]

Heh, I was just coming over to this thread to complain about Motti's name. I was reading up on the book at wookiepedia, when I saw the following:
"Motti's first name was to be "Zi" until George Lucas (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/George_Lucas) renamed him "Conan Antonio".[4] (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Death_Star_%28novel%29#_note-3) "

Seriously, what was Lucas smoking?

[Zedekk]

"Motti's first name was to be "Zi" until George Lucas (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/George_Lucas) renamed him "Conan Antonio".[4] (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Death_Star_%28novel%29#_note-3) "

Seriously, what was Lucas smoking?
and where can I get some?

[Master Magnus]

Heh, I was just coming over to this thread to complain about Motti's name. I was reading up on the book at wookiepedia, when I saw the following:
"Motti's first name was to be "Zi" until George Lucas (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/George_Lucas) renamed him "Conan Antonio".[4] (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Death_Star_%28novel%29#_note-3) "

Seriously, what was Lucas smoking?
Ah, so it's Conan "Antonio" the Barbarian then? Well, wait just a darn minute...

[Lord Tesla]

Seriously, what was Lucas smoking?

I'm thinking: the tailpipe on something pre-catalytic converter.

But I can't be entirely sure.

[Lord Tesla]

Ah, so it's Conan "Antonio" the Barbarian then? Well, wait just a darn minute...

No, I think you're thinking of Admiral Motti's cousin, the great Coruscanti scholar, Vinnie Barbarino Motti.

I think.

Or something.

[Sam Kenobi]

Wookiepedia:


Motti's full name was given by Lucas on the May 1 (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/May_1), 2007 (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/2007) episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_Night_with_Conan_O%27Brien), Lucas was challenged to a trivia question by a "fan" (O'Brien Associate Producer Jordan Schlanski) as to the name of this Imperial officer who Darth Vader Force chokes in A New Hope, to which Lucas jokingly replied "Conan Antonio Motti." Although the character had previously been known only as "Motti," Lucas's statement finally gave a full canon (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Canon) name to this character. On the day after the episode aired, Late Night posted a blog entry on the NBC website about their surprise at Wookieepedia (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Wookieepedia)'s quick response (http://starwars.wikia.com/index.php?title=Conan_Antonio_Motti&diff=1315629&oldid=1306890) in adopting the new name for the character, and their appreciation for Lucas in naming a Star Wars character after him.

[Lord Tesla]

Yes, that Wookiepedia account is quite similar to the one I read at regular wikipedia (the one for minor villains in Star Wars):http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_minor_Star_Wars_villains

I'm still having trouble with the name...

[Morridini]

Yeah apparently it started as a joke, then Wookiepedia went all nuts with discussion of the ridiculous name, then the NBC blogs went nuts because Wookiepedia went nuts, resulting in Wookiepedia going even more nuts until eventually they decided to make it canon.

You can read about thew nutgoing here: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Talk:Conan_Antonio_Motti#Conan_Antonio_Motti

[Darth Octavious]

Got my book today. It only took 20 mins to get it at Barnes and Noble. When I couldn't find it, one of the store workers couldn't find either saying to me that they have 48 of them in the store.

But all of them were not in display; all of them were in the back.

[Lord Tesla]

Got my book today. It only took 20 mins to get it at Barnes and Noble. When I couldn't find it, one of the store workers couldn't find either saying to me that they have 48 of them in the store.

But all of them were not in display; all of them were in the back.

My local B&N had them in on Tuesday. On display, though not prominently on display. Of course, their website had told me they wouldn't have them, so I'd made the purchase at Borders, where the website said they were in, they were on display, and easily acquired.

[Lord Tesla]

Yokay...

I'm 40 pages into this thing, and, I must say...

It should have come equipped with a flush handle.

It IS that bad.

(I'd be a lot further along, but, so bad is the prose, so boring the characters, that after a couple of pages, I feel as if I've been doing this for a couple of hours: :banghead:. At that point, I have stop and do something else for a while.)

[Master Magnus]

Yokay...

I'm 40 pages into this thing, and, I must say...

It should have come equipped with a flush handle.

It IS that bad.

(I'd be a lot further along, but, so bad is the prose, so boring the characters, that after a couple of pages, I feel as if I've been doing this for a couple of hours: :banghead:. At that point, I have stop and do something else for a while.)
Really? The book didn't arrive today either so I'm glad I'm not missing out.

[Lord Tesla]

Really? The book didn't arrive today either so I'm glad I'm not missing out.

Yep, really. At least as far as I'm concerned. Your mileage may vary, as they say.

Let's see if I can sum it up with a non-spoiler analogy...

Ever seen Titanic? You know how it's going to end, you know what really happened (ANH in this case) and what they made up (the novel, in this case), and how tedious and trite the made-up stuff is. All you can think is, "Hurry up and sink the :censored:ed ship already!" (And also, the Hugo Drax line from Moonraker: "Put them out of my misery," which strictly speaking made no sense, but still conveyed Drax's point.)

Well, that's how I thought about Titanic, anyway. And that's about how I'm thinking about this novel. Only more so. Surely, knowing what I know now, if I were having to wait, I would not be sweating it.

[eddie]

You're right, ofcourse, but that was also the case with the prequel trilogy (we all knew young Anakin would turn into Vader), but it wasn't any less exciting because of it... I know I should not add my comment yet as I am still (anxiously) awaiting the arrival of the book. My hope is that we will finally get some sort of canon timeline regarding the creation of the Death Star (with some already-established facts thrown into it)...

[Lord Tesla]

You're right, ofcourse, but that was also the case with the prequel trilogy (we all knew young Anakin would turn into Vader), but it wasn't any less exciting because of it... I know I should not add my comment yet as I am still (anxiously) awaiting the arrival of the book. My hope is that we will finally get some sort of canon timeline regarding the creation of the Death Star (with some already-established facts thrown into it)...


Some might argue that the prequels weren't that exciting, by any standard--but not I. The differences between the prequels and Death Star are three: 1) Lucas wrote the films; he didn't write the novel; 2) we knew some of what would happen in the prequels, but not the how, not in any detail, whereas we know who, how and when for the Death Star [Luke, with the proton torpedo, in the trench, during the Battle of Yavin]; 3) there aren't any serious major characters, at least not in any major way, at least through chapter 9, involved in Death Star whereas there were plenty in the Prequel Trilogy.

I'd thought that the chronology might be cleared up, too, but, so far, it's about as clear as a block of concrete when things are happening. If anything, it's confusing--upto the point I've read chapter nine. It could change. At least, in that regard.

[eddie]

Oh man, that doesn't sound very promising... :(

Please let us (i.e me) know if something regarding a Death Star timeline turns up later in the book... I've still got to wait about a day or 10 for the book...

[Ripley]

Yokay...

I'm 40 pages into this thing, and, I must say...

It should have come equipped with a flush handle.

It IS that bad.

(I'd be a lot further along, but, so bad is the prose, so boring the characters, that after a couple of pages, I feel as if I've been doing this for a couple of hours: :banghead:. At that point, I have stop and do something else for a while.)
It picked up a bit after the beginning which had far too Luceno-class lists. I read the book in about a day. Not the greatest piece of literature, but I enjoyed it overall. Biggest joy is everyone wasn't running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

[Lord Tesla]

Oh man, that doesn't sound very promising... :(

Indeed.

Please let us (i.e me) know if something regarding a Death Star timeline turns up later in the book... I've still got to wait about a day or 10 for the book...

Well, I'm about....80 pages in now (actually, I stopped on page 79), and...I'm not seeing much to de-murk the timeline. There's a weird reference to a TIE pilot, having nothing to do with the plot, with a humongous number of kills during the Clone Wars. Now, one might suppose a clone had shot up a lot of droid fighters, and lived to fly TIEs, but the clear indication is that this pilot was a normally-produced human. And where's the precedent for ordinary (non-Jedi) human fighter pilots flying for the Republic during the Clone Wars?

This thing could be taking place anywhere from ten to five years before ANH, at least so far.

But it does become clear that the book has one virtue, short chapters. So, while the crap remains pretty much constant, the scenery does change fairly often.

I would also say, on stylistic grounds, that the new characters are being written by Reaves, and the OT characters, i.e., Vader, Tarkin, are being written by Perry. Or so it seems over the first 15 chapters.

[Lord Tesla]

It picked up a bit after the beginning which had far too Luceno-class lists. I read the book in about a day. Not the greatest piece of literature, but I enjoyed it overall. Biggest joy is everyone wasn't running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

In a single day...impressive. But please define "the beginning": I'm in Chapter 15 at the moment, and if there's an improvement ahead, it may help to accelerate my progress in the book.

[Master Magnus]

I finally got the book today. *Starts reading*

[Luvinna]

Well, all of this is very discouraging. I was actually looking forward to this book (despite the authors) because it's the only thing coming out that isn't LOTF. Now I'm not so sure I'll read it.

[Master Magnus]

I haven't had time to read that much and I'm only 130 pages in, but so far I'm liking it.

[Darill Cyllem]

What do you like about it, Magnus?

[Sam Kenobi]

See, I was looking foreward to this book. I really enjoyed the MedStar Duology. I'm gonna pick it up soon.

[Master Magnus]

What do you like about it, Magnus?
I really like the prose, it flows nicely and while there are many plots intertwined, each one is given proper attention. The characters are very well developed and they and their plots are interesting. I'm also glad that the technical aspects of the novel more follows the 'Saxtonian', 'Raynoldian' / DK's reference books than the old WEG stuff.

I do have a few nitpicks though, and I'll try to find time so I can finish the novel ASAP so I can spill the beans...

[eddie]

'Saxtonian' / DK's reference books than the old WEG stuff.

:((I think)


I do have a few nitpicks though, and I'll try to find time so I can finish the novel ASAP so I can spill the beans...

Read on, read on, and let me... uhhh us know! (Still waiting for mine to arrive from Amazon, but ordered the latest Last of the Jedi earlier and did not receive that one yet...)

[Lord Tesla]

I really like the prose, it flows nicely and while there are many plots intertwined, each one is given proper attention. The characters are very well developed and they and their plots are interesting.

:blink: Are we reading the same novel? Maybe someone switched dustjackets with the thing I bought thinking it was Death Star...


I do have a few nitpicks though, and I'll try to find time so I can finish the novel ASAP so I can spill the beans...


What's protocol on book reviews? Post them in this thread, start a new one, or something else altogether? I'm not quite ready yet, but I'd hate to blow it when I am. :yoda:

[Coyote850]

I'm thinking I'll wait till this puppy hits the $2 mark on Amazon then get it. :scratchchin:

[Lord Tesla]

I'm thinking I'll wait till this puppy hits the $2 mark on Amazon then get it. :scratchchin:

At least wait for the paperback. Unless you can't stand having a gap in your hardback set, there's no compelling reason to subject yourself to this at hardcovers costs. At least so far as I can tell.

[Master Magnus]

:blink: Are we reading the same novel? Maybe someone switched dustjackets with the thing I bought thinking it was Death Star...
:D


What's protocol on book reviews? Post them in this thread, start a new one, or something else altogether? I'm not quite ready yet, but I'd hate to blow it when I am. :yoda:
You post it in here. However, you must use the spoiler tags for spoilers:

This is a spoiler

[Lord Tesla]

You post it in here. However, you must use the spoiler tags for spoilers:

This is a spoiler

Roger, roger.

Wouldn't dream of doing it any other way.

[Lord Tesla]

I keep slogging on in this thing, but I have run aground on page 207. I relate what I've read there without commentary or elaboration, within the safety of the spoiler tags:

On page 207, while on his way to the Hard Heart Cantina, a plant/animal hybrid humanoid, who is also a fugitive from the Despayre penal facility, to avoid being seen by a guard he knew there, ducks into what is described as a "femwear" shop, and proceeds to feign interest in buying some lingerie for the Twi'lek who runs the cantina, and whom he is trying to woo. All of this is happening aboard the Death Star.

This is in the book. I am dead serious. I kid you not. I think it speaks for itself. :giveup:

[Master Magnus]

So, I've finally finished the novel and I have some mixed feelings about it...

Note: While major spoilers are hidden, there are some mild spoilers in the review.

The good:

* As I indicated in one of my earlier posts, I found the prose quite appealing. It had a narrative flow despite some of the sub-chapters focusing on the individual main characters being rather short.

* Most of the characters were well-written (up to a point, I'll return to that), well-developed (I'll return to that as well) and their individual stories were interesting.

* The Death Star was given a deeper dimension. It wasn't just the all-powerful battlestation, but there were human stories to tell.

* Although there's not very much considering the subject of the novel, the passages describing the processes behind the construction of the Death Star was very interesting.

* The novel contains some very interesting tidbits such as how research into the Force and Jedi Order is handled and what is commonly known about them by the time of ANH.

The bad (or the not so good):

* How little the novel expanded on the back history of the Death Star.

* While the characterizations were good, the moral dilemmas experienced by some of the main characters felt tacked on and going to the extreme.

* Too many of the main characters survived, IMHO, and Vader's attack on the shuttle felt unnecessary.

* I felt the characterizations of the movie characters lacking. Tarkin was given proper attention, but not so with Motti and Tagge (and the other officers who were present during Vader's... demonstration of the Force for Motti remained completely anonymous).

* I thought the Empire was portrayed as well, quite meek. A medical droid with the designation Cameo... sorry, that should be C-4ME-O has a "soothing" voice. Well, that could be good for civilians and military personnel, but convicts? And come on, convicts are allowed to walk about the station and visit cantinas? That didn't feel quite right to me.

* What's up with the leet speech? Not only does the droid designation above look like leet speech, but the alias of one of the characters is Teh Roxxor.

* The editorial mistakes. There's one passage which states that the ship complement includes a hundred TIE/In starfighters which is an absurdly low figure and which doesn't jive with other sources. However, in the battle with the Rebels, nearly a hundred TIEs were lost and it's considered not to be such a big deal as well as other passages which points to this being a typo. Also, at one point the first name which the authors came up with for Motti, Zi, appears. When Lucas was a guest at the Late Night with Conan O'Brien he was asked what the first name of Motti was and Lucas answered in jest that it was Conan Antonio.

* As Lord Tesla indicated above, the novel did at times feel a little like a soap-opera.

* There are quite many continuity errors. A few of them made me think "Have these guys really watched Star Wars"? Two such examples comes directly to mind. The first is a claim that the Death Star was equipped with only a rudimentary shielding as a trade-off. During the briefing before the attack on the Death Star, General Dodonna discussed its properties based on the complete technical readouts:
DODONNA: The battle station is heavily shielded and carries a firepower greater than half the star fleet.Another annoying continuity error (it's only a spoiler for those who haven't seen ANH) is that the novel states that only Luke's and Biggs' fighters survived the battle. That is clearly wrong as the movie shows a Y-wing as well.



Other observations and thoughts:

* As I also mentioned earlier, I'm glad that the novel uses the correct size of the Death Star, 160 km, as opposed to the 120 km figure WEG pulled out of thin air (the 160 km figure comes from behind the information and scaling of the model performed by Dr. David West Raynolds for his Incredible Cross-Sections (ICS) reference book). The authors also used the ICS description of the ISD armament and not the WEG sources.

* The novel is not as minimalistic as some other EU novels (it seems as if many authors forgets that the galaxy is very large).

* What about the Geonosians? George Lucas stated in one of the DVD commentaries that they later were commissioned to build the Death Star, but their involvement is only mentioned in passing and I felt that it missed.

* Strangely enough, the Death Star, in contradiction with virtually every source published before this novel, is capable of targeting capital ships. This is probably one of the aforementioned continuity errors.


All in all, a well-written and at times an enjoyable novel which does have its flaws. The question is whether it's worth the price of a hardback.

Rating: C+

[Morridini]

So why did it take them 20 years longer then necesary?

[Master_Kinnon]

I have this book on the way from Amazon so hopefully I'll be able to post my thoughts ASAP!

[Master Magnus]

So why did it take them 20 years longer then necesary?
The novel alludes to some of the things George Lucas specifically mentioned in the ROTS DVD, design problems and union disputes (so in that sense it was good to see that worked into the story). The backhistory of the Death Star is mentioned only in passing and I feel that this was a great opportunity to tell that story, but unfortunately they missed it.

[Lord Tesla]

Done! Free at last! Thank the Maker, free at last! :happydance:

More remarks to follow, but for now suffice it to say, this read a lot more like Deep Space Nine than the Death Star.

[Master Magnus]

Done! Free at last! Thank the Maker, free at last! :happydance:

More remarks to follow, but for now suffice it to say, this read a lot more like Deep Space Nine than the Death Star.
Yes, I've become more critical about this novel now after I have reread it. The general feeling I have is that it's more about a passenger liner than the Death Star. I just can't fit the events portrayed in this novel with those from the movie.

[Lord Tesla]

Yes, I've become more critical about this novel now after I have reread it.

You reread it? Your energy and dedication are commendable.

The general feeling I have is that it's more about a passenger liner than the Death Star. I just can't fit the events portrayed in this novel with those from the movie.

An apt comparison. The situations and environments described are antithetical to everything we know from the films about the Death Star and the empire.

I would go a little further, and say that it adds nothing to, and that, if taken seriously, detracts from, ANH, which by my lights makes it a failure as a Star Wars novel.

I think the technical term for this kind of novel is "filler." It sits in the gap between Dark Lord and ANH, but that's all it does.

[RollaFett]

Ugh. I'm not a huge reader of EU to beging with, but this did capture my interest. However, upon reading most of the thoughts in this thread, I think I shall pass on this novel.

[Jedi Master Harrison]

Where does the Death Star novel fit in the SW timeline? Is it after Dark Lord but before the Han Solo trilogy?

[Morridini]

Overlaps a lot of things.
As far as I have heard, it should start around the time of AotC and end with the DS blowing up in ANH.

[Lord Tesla]

Where does the Death Star novel fit in the SW timeline? Is it after Dark Lord but before the Han Solo trilogy?

Way after Dark Lord--but which Han Solo Trilogy, the earlier Brian Daley trilogy, or the A. C. Crispin trilogy? After the Daley Trilogy, if memory serves; after most of the Crisipin Trilogy, at least the first two volumes of it. I have yet to read Rebel Dawn.


The novel's chronological indicators are pretty sketchy, up until it makes clear temporal contact with ANH.

[Jedi Master Harrison]

I meant the Crispin trilogy, which I believe comes first in the timeline.

[Lord Tesla]

I meant the Crispin trilogy, which I believe comes first in the timeline.

According to the timeline in True Colors, it does indeed. So, Death Star is after the Crispin Trilogy, and, so it would seem, somewhat overlaps the "Han Solo Adventures," otherwise the Brian Daley Trilogy. At least the later ones.

[Jedi Master Harrison]

^ :cheers:

[Master Magnus]

The Washington Post has posted an interview with Michael Reaves in which he talks about the novel: Interview (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/09/AR2007110900610.html).

[Sam Kenobi]

I finished the novel. I don't dislike it. It's not the NJO, but it's not bad. I enjoyed exploring ANH behind the scenes. I think it gives it more depth.

[Darth Nameless]

just finished the book...not overly impressed...ive read worse though