Lit Tarkin By James Luceno, underrated and under read

There's actually been confirmation of this policy somewhere, cannot recall where off the top of my head. However with Luceno I do think it is just age and him wanting to enjoy retirement.

 

As a story this book is ok but as a character study it's fantastic.

 

There was?

 

Clearly not even DI was sufficiently initiated into the grand conspiracy.

 

Very like this book both on its own (there is probably the biggest Imperial meeting in both NU Canon and Legends in terms of number of prominent figures of Palpatine's Empire, Berch Teller is a great anti-hero, a darker aspect of Clone Wars with black ops missions under Tarkin's command and so on) and in pairs with other novels - Darth Plagueis (Tarkin family being alike to the Sith because of their mentality of hunters, Plagueis and Sidious also had their own hunting grounds where they slaughtered animals with primitive weapons) and Lords of the Sith (in Tarkin Sidious and (to a lesser degree, but still) Vader are cunning politicians, while in Lords they are unstoppable monsters - almost forces of nature).

 

I can’t recall if Luceno did this for his other novels, but I love his use of chapter titles here and in Darth Plagueis. On the one hand I wish more adult Star Wars novels had chapter titles, but on the other hand I like that it’s relatively uncommon because then the books that do have them stand out. It feels like a very literary touch when Luceno and Stover use them.

 

I'm pretty sure he did it for Catalyst, too.