Reviews Books The JC Lit Reviews Special: DEATH TROOPERS (Spoilers)

This book was an awesome standalone, I thought, one of those novels I wasn't really anticipating as much as others, but one I actually found myself engrossed in once I got into it. It starts off fairly slow, namely introducing characters and touching on Von Longo's mysterious death at the hands of a grumpy Imperial CO -- an event that seems to connect all of our main characters in some shape or form. I was pretty underwhelmed with the introduction, and therefore it took me a few days to really get into the story -- even when I was bored and had nothing to read.

Once the the Purge hooks up with the abandoned SD, however, things start to get interesting. Like a classic horror movie script, the team splits up to 'explore,' and each of them discovers a different piece of the puzzle. By the time they're done, they're already missing a few people and the virus has already been contracted.

I sort of expected that once everyone started dying, they'd all turn into zombies. From there the virus progresses, and we even get a couple of POV's from Chewie, which I thought was great - especially the first one where Dr. Cody injects him with the antidote but the virus has already entered his body through the air and he goes into a sort of psychosis. I mean, what are you supposed to do when a Wookiee starts turning into a bloodthirsty zombie? Of course, he can't really remain that way, since, well... he sort of has to survive. So does Han -- which was one of my main pet peeves with this novel (something I had already tried to warn myself about even before I'd gotten the book). I did manage to get over it, however, if only because I thought Trig Longo's story was artfully written. The kid had to watch his father's corpse resurrect into a zombie, and then turn around and run for his life when it tried to kill him. Same with his older brother. He literally gets chased around that SD from the minute they step aboard to the minute they manage to escape. Experiencing the whole zombie thing through the eyes of a young teenage kid wasn't something I thought I would enjoy, but it scared the bejeesus out of me and managed to entertain at the same time. Very well done on Schreiber's part.

I did have a few problems with the overall purpose of this virus (i.e. project blackwing and what it was supposed to acheive). The whole idea that it was all an experiment (when Cody finally gets to the working terminal and asks it what blackwing is, it said something like 'experiment in progress') by the Empire was pretty twisted. I liked that part. But I wish there was more to it than what we got. The Imperial hierarchy and Vader (whatever his true role in all of this was) should have been more involved, I thought, or at least mentioned near the end when the survivors finally escaped. The overarcing plot just didn't feel too sturdy for me -- I guess I just kept waiting for some big revelation involving a conspiracy designed by Vader or Palpatine to take over the galaxy or something -- something. I think there was room for a conspiracy plot, or a big reveal at the end that put everything into perspective and made you want to read the sequel.

I was actually expecting Trig and Cody to die, so I was surprised when both survived. I also expected Sartoris to survive to the end, as well, but I sort of liked his death scene, how he finally seemed to suck it up and tell the truth about the boy's father...which brings me to my last complaint -- they seemed to build up Von's death like it was a huge deal, and since it seemed to involve nearly all of our main characters, I at least expected the circumstances of his murder to be revealed. But I don't think we ever found out what exactly happened and why/how he was killed, did we? I guess it was all irrelevant by the end anyway, but still...

Overall, I give DEATHROOPERS a 6.5/10; it was a great horror read and once it got going, I couldn't put it down.

 

Average score: 97.3/16 = 6.08

 

I seemed to tear through this book like so much flesh. It wasn't bad. Well executed but too short of course. I actually liked the inclusion of Han and Chewie. It felt at least a little Star Warsy. It got repetitive. Lots of screaming, retching and crying. I think I'll give it a higher rating because I didn't pay for it so I don't feel cheated by the short page count.

6.8

 

Average score: 104.1/17 = 6.12

 

The Good: the book picks up pace and interest in the second half of the book.

The bad: The book just has no charm, flair or elan or even interesting characters. The storyline is woeful it is a really bad straight to DVD style zombie movie novelised and with a star wars name on it.
I took over a week to read it which is a first in star wars literature it infact for me read worse than the New Rebellion and planet of twilight.

3/10 - spend your money else where unless like me your a completionist

 

Wow...I'm a complete 180 from this POV. I finished the book in one day.....I wanted more!!

 

Terrible book.

1/10

 

I've read some Zombie stories before so the ending was AWESOME- one ones lives in the Zombie Novels.

The details were gruesome. I did end wanting more. Like Han and Chewie getting the Falcon back, or what happened to the Purge and the Vector- and why wasn't the ships name in the story?

Overall I'd say 6 out of ten. I don't enjoy stand alones that often, but this was good enough that I was happy with it.

 

Average score: 114.1/20 = 5.71

 

Zombies and Star Wars clearly do not mix.

1/10

 

Average score: 115.1/21 = 5.48

 

I really liked this book. I didn't think a horror story set in the Star Wars universe would work, but Deathtroopers did for me. I liked the characters, I thought they were well written for the most part. The book was fast paced, with some truly disgusting scenes in there.

To be honest, it was a little short. I got it from the library. I know I wouldn't have bought it, especially with the page count. Though I generally don't buy SW hardcovers, or many hardcovers in general. In any event, I thought it was a good story. Wouldn't mind seeing another outbreak in the future.

 

From what I've noticed, it seems that if you like variety and like things mixed up from time-to-time, you will like this book. If you're a traditionalist and like things always the same and they shouldn't change, you won't like this book.

 

Just finished reading this last night. As a book, it was decent enough. As a Star Wars book, it didn't seem to *click* for me.

It started off well enough, and I was actually enjoying it until they revealed the two "rogues" as Han and Chewie. That's about the time when the book went downhill for me. I don't know, I think a lot of that had to do with the fact that, at the very least, I knew two of the characters would survive. That kind of takes a lot of the tension away from the constant zombie chases, knowing that in the end they'll be fine.

I didn't think there was enough character development for the various characters. I also don't think there was much character interaction, but maybe I had a preconceived notion about how the individual characters would interact with one another, and that just didn't pan out. A lot of time it seemed like each individual was on his/her own, thus no real time to bond with the other characters.

I don't know, just not my thing, I guess.

Score: 4 out of 10 - (5 points for the decent zombie story, but -1 for using Han/Chewie when the story's tension could have been better using characters that had a chance of dying)

 

Valid argument, but that can be said for almost any story containing the "Big 3" and even R2D2. Everytime R2 is on a spacecraft and/or X-Wing, we know nothing major will happen to the spaceship because R2 shows up in Legacy with Cade Skywalker.

I loved that Han and Chewie showed up because it made sense for them, of all beings, to be on the Imperial prison barge Purge. Now had the Millennium Falcon somehow magically showed up on the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer Vector, I would've thrown the book into the garbage can. LOL

 

You couldn't be more wrong though. SW and zombies do and have mixed for some time now. Here's a list of canon zombies appearances in the SW Universe.

Outbound Flight (Mentioned only)
Star Wars: The Clone Wars ? "Legacy of Terror"
Star Wars: The Clone Wars ? "Brain Invaders"
"No Way Out" - Clone Wars Adventures: Volume 9
"The Eye" - Living Force
Coruscant Nights I: Jedi Twilight (Mentioned only)
Death Troopers
Star Wars Galaxies
Star Wars Journal: Hero for Hire (Mentioned only)
Galaxy of Fear: City of the Dead
Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor
Assault at Selonia (Mentioned only)

Pretty amazing how often zombies have been used in the SW EU, yet nobody complained until Death Troopers came out. That says a lot.

 

I quite liked it until all the zombie stuff began. However, I hated all the zombie stuff. I just could not bring myself to care about any of the protagonists or the mystery of why people were turning into zombies in the first place (which was never a mystery). Also the page count further made a mockery of the pricely sum required to possess this piece of literature.
2/10

 

Part of me is actually surprised that this is among the bottom 5 rated novels in the history of Lit. Part of me is not surprised. Either way, it's just not as bad as the average would suggest.

I'm wondering if DT is rating lower among those who actually purchased the book. The low page count has to be bringing the rating down.

 

Even though this is the 12th SW storyline to use or mention zombies, for some reason those that know no better jumped all over this one to complain. I'm willing to bet it has do to with one or more of the following 4 reasons:

1) They never even read the book
2) Had no idea how often zombies are actually used in Star Wars (12th time)
3) Didn't like the page count
4) Are ultra conservative and don't like anything "different" in their routine lives

I'm looking forward to the prequel being released in October 2010.

 

THIS IS NOT THE DISCUSSION THREAD.

 

Average score: 121.1/23 = 5.27

 

See your next post.

 

You are correct. No more.

 

Average score: 125.5/24 = 5.23