Death Star: A Star Wars novel by Michael Reaves & Steve Perry


It's been a while since I last read a full novel/book etc. Especially the ones that run >400 pages. Been pretty tied up lately (well, for the past one year or so I should say!) but when I first saw this latest Star Wars novel in a paperback version (which is by far MUCH cheaper than its' hardcover version!), I knew that my time in 'reading-hiatus-land' had come to an end.
Well, I'm pretty sure that they are literally hundreds of online reviews already done on this particular Expanded Star Wars universe novelized installment. But those who'd want a brief know-how about the book can read on for my opinion and brief review. What intrigued me most about this novel was that it touched on the different lives of the people inside the Death Star up to the point of is destruction. One thing unique about Reaves/Perry's book is that is does not tell the story from any of the good guys' point of view....since all of the characters were more or less 'employed' by the Empire to work (or at least lived amongst them) on the Death Star.
I'm not gonna list down every one of the characters here, that's gonna take a lot of space. But let me just tell you readers that the main characters ranges from a TIE Fighter pilot, an Imperial military Sargeant, a cantina owner & her bodyguard, a convict-slash-architect, an escapee, an archivist-slash-librarian and interestingly enough, the person who pulls the switch everytime the Death Star blows up a designated planet.
The book also cleverly tells us about the morbid love-hate relationship between Darth Vader and Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin. Along the way, we are also presented with the side stories of some of the familiar screen characters such as Admiral Motti and Princess Leia to complement the adventures of the main characters. Although the book leans much towards the off-screen characters, they are briliantly woven with the lives of the more familiar on-screen Star Wars characters, so much that one could swear that the events that took place in this book are good enough to be recognised as deleted scenes from A New Hope!
One thing lead to the other and in the end, their fates intertwined and the lot of them decided that they had served on the wrong side of the war and took matters into their own hands to leave the Death Star....and it couldn't have come at a better time too! Their escape took place minutes before the Rebel's attack on the Death Star......aka Luke Skywalker's 'a-million-to-one' proton torpedo shot into the artificial planet's exhaust vent. Of course, no valiant story is complete without any sacrifices whatsoever, expect some of the defacto Imperial personnel to go down in desperate attempts to let the other deserters save themselves.
This book deserves a read for those who love the original Star Wars trilogy...and especially to those who wants to know what went on inside the giant space station prior to its fateful doom.
My two cents.....nuff' said.

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