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REVIEW SUMMARY: It takes more than adding zombies to make an excellent story.
BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Survivors must escape from a zombie plague that runs rampant aboard an Imperial star destroyer and prison barge.
MY REVIEW:
PROS: Some fast, zombie action in the second half of the book; a few welcome surprises.
CONS: Pacing, characterization and being part of a well-established universe issues weigh down the book.
BOTTOM LINE: While it's not a bad story, a Star Wars/zombie mashup is not the automatic win you think it might be.
As unfair as it may be, a book whose elevator pitch is "Star Wars/zombie mashup" comes with built-in expectations of awesomeness. Anything less is bound to be a bit of a disappointment...which might be why Star Wars: Death Troopers is surprisingly underwhelming.
The setup is simple: an Imperial prison barge comes into contact with a deserted star destroyer and the barge's occupants (guards and prisoners alike) become infected with a plague that turns them into zombies. A small handful of survivors on the prison barge are immune, among them the ship's doctor, Zahara Cody; two teenage orphans, Trig and Kale Longo; and the ship's Captain of the Guard, Jareth Sartoris. The survivors soon learn that the destroyer is not as deserted as it first appeared and that the victims of the deadly plague on their own ship start coming back to life and craving flesh.
What plays out is relatively standard fare for a zombie story, with survivors running from one attack to the next, all the while looking for escape. So...how does mixing zombies and Star Wars not work? The problems are three-fold:
- Pacing. It takes more than one-third of the story to see any real zombie action. This wouldn't be too bad if that time was spent building suspense, but there's only so much suspense you can build when you now what's coming, so why drag it out? Presumably that time could have been used to build up the characterizations, which brings me to the second problem...
- The characters do not elicit sympathy in the reader. They are bland to the point of not caring about them. Are we supposed to care about the evil prison guard? Or the skilled, caring Doctor who is "stuck" on a prison barge by her own choice? Or the kids who lived a life of thievery? (In the latter case, I think we're supposed to side with them over the Empire's greater evil.) With such unsympathetic characters, then, is it really a big deal when they are being chased by zombies? This is not to say that a reader wants to see them killed, but it's not as dramatic as it should be.
- Being a brand new, unheard-of element like zombies to a well-established setting means that you know the story cannot have far-reaching implications. It has to be self-contained or it would mean anarchy for the Star Wars universe. Thus there is this lingering cloud of "safeness", if not for the characters, then for the state of affairs for mankind. This story might have worked better if it were a straight science fiction/horror mashup. (For an excellent example of this, see Tobias Buckell's Sly Mongoose)
Comments (6)
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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday November 24, 2009 at 12:28 AM
© 2009 SF Signal
Never read it and never will. I am so tired of the 50 zombie/werewolf/vampire books which seem to pop out every month. There is hardly any science fiction in science fiction anymore. Where is the next Dune or Ender's Game? Ohhh, I know. Let's get really creative and put zombies on Arrakis! No, wait...even better is making Peter, Valentine, and Ender vampires. Wow! No one has ever done that before. I'm so creative (sarcasm).
Posted by Chad on Tuesday November 24, 2009 at 6:31 AM
the Empire's greater evil
Wasnt the Empire the good guys? I mean is was a meritocracy where anybody could advance if you had suitable skills and drive, unlike that buncha murdering, robe wearing, religious zealots that set themselves up as galactic guardians...
;)
Posted by D on Tuesday November 24, 2009 at 9:49 AM
I think the idea is that the Empire abuses their power. In the Star Wars timeline, this takes place just before Episode IV, where we were rooting for the rebels.
Posted by John D. on Tuesday November 24, 2009 at 10:53 AM
"...is not the automatic win you think it might be."
While I applaud your geek at heart enthusiasm (I mean, who doesn't like a good zombie anything), I am glad to see that you rated it low because when I looked at it at the bookstore the other day I believe I groaned audibly and wondered where the "braaaaains" of the publishers were when this idea was pitched.
Posted by Carl V. on Tuesday November 24, 2009 at 10:09 PM
I thought it was actually a really good book but hey im not much of a reader so I don't see all the problems you have with it and plus I do think that the post about how zombies and werewolves and things like that are "in" has a point but you should be saying that about twilight not this at least the zombies don't walk through the halls sparkling
Posted by leo on Thursday December 17, 2009 at 1:36 PM
Chad i must just say your an idiot .
i'm a very avid reader of sci-fi. i read loads of it. i read it so bloody much. my fav alive writters can't even write fast enough.
and i must say, there is plenty of scifi out there for you to read. enough good sci-fi out there for you to read that you will not have enough time to come here and complain about something you have just stated you will not read.
you know how, i know your an idiot. you named DUNE and ENDERS GAME.
sounds like you read a pop culture mag and came here to get down with us nerds ^^
while this book was fun enough, it wasn't wow for eaither a stars wars book nor a zombie book which theres plenty of.
Posted by Mr Muad on Monday January 04, 2010 at 10:06 PM