Star Wars: Death Troopers (2009)
Written by Joe Schreiber

 

To an average non-die hard fan, the limits revolve around the two Trilogies and possibly a few video games. However, for the ones who delve in deeper with the books, games, and comics, universe of Star Wars is far more vast. Spanning millenniums and having so many characters, races, technologies, worlds and events, it could easily top Lord of the Rings and Star Trek in terms of universe complexity.

I've rarely tried to go into the world of Star Wars books and what not, since the series (as mentioned) is so vast, and I'd have no idea where to truly start. However, there was one book I discovered that I had to, without question, read the second I heard of it. That book was Star Wars: Death Troopers written by Joe Schreiber, and as the title above hints, it's Star Wars with zombies. The story is as follows:

Trig and Kale Longo are brothers who're imprisoned on the Imperial Prison barge "Purge," which is transporting them and a ship full of hardened and deadly criminals. They, along with their father, were arrested for smuggling and are being moved to a prison moon. Their father managed to keep them safe during their time there, making deals with criminals to get them weapons and equipment.

Jareth Sartoris, the heartless captain of the ship, changed all that when he killed their father during torture to get information. Trig was there to see his father's last moments and that had an effect on Jareth. The boys tried to continue a making deals as well, but the criminal their father had negotiated with was murdered by his right hand man, Aur Myss, who instead wanted the boys dead for his own amusement.

Meanwhile, up in the medical bay, Zahara Cody (the eye candy of the ship) is in a struggle with her career as she longs to be free of the prison barge. Originally growing up a part of a rich family, she chose the life of medicine, but the best she could get in the Empire was the Purge. She now gets ridiculed by the guards as her only close friend is the 2-1B Medical Droid, Waste, and she has often cared more for the prisoners than the guards or herself.

And amongst the whole thing are the space pirates who'll in just over a year effect the outcome of the galaxy, Han Solo and Chewbacca. After getting caught by the Empire and the Falcon being impounded, Han and Chewy got put on the barge where they eventually tried to escape via a lunch riot. It failed and for it all, they where put into the Isolation Cells at the bottom of the ship.

All six of them are about to go to a Hell far worse than a prison, though. While traveling closer to the destination, the Purge's hyper drive engines fail. In a stroke of luck, they discover the Star Destroyer 'Vector' out in the uncharted areas of space they were to travel through. However, once docked and inside, things take a turn for the bizarre. The Star Destroyer, which should house over tens of thousands of troops, officers and scientists, is completely empty.

After searching what they can (the Destroyer far outsizing the prison barge being a bit overwhelming for the explorers) and claiming the parts they need, some of the men return sick. Before Zahara knows what to do, the disease spreads throughout the Purge and kills off nearly everyone. Jareth, Zahara, Trig and Kale all are somehow immune to the disease, while Han and Chewy receive blood from the doctor to keep them well.

Before long though, the bodies suddenly start to disappear and the survivors learn that getting infected virally is a minor threat. With the guards and prisoners of the Purge now rising and craving the flesh of the survivors, the chase leads back to the Vector. There they split up and discover the true horror of things there: what became of the Vector's survivors and the inhuman state they've come to, what really is causing the dead to suddenly rise up, and the worst of all, the possibility that it soon might not be contained to the Vector.

After the first few chapters, you get the impression that this won't be your standard Star Wars story. In fact, it truly plays out like a zombie film in space. When Han tells Luke in "A New Hope" that he's seen a lot of strange stuff in the galaxy, he wasn't kidding.

Right away you get a sense of where you stand with each character. Trig is the younger of the two brothers and is always the follower. He truly is lost with his life gone and stuck in prison, and the zombies only amplify it all. You can't help but root for him to finally grow a set and step up. Kale though is the exact opposite. Despite being young, he's damn near fearless and stands up the challenges he's been given, both from the fellow prisoners and the zombies. Even though Trig is obviously nothing like him, he still keeps him protected under his wing.

Zahara is sympathetic like Trig, but in a different way. She truly became a doctor to help people, but the Empire put her in a position where the people she helps aren't supposed to be liked. Her best friend is an android and her patients are considered lower then dirt, you can see how she's in a hazardous workplace.

Jareth is a bizarre one. You can't help but hate him as to what he's done to Trig and Kale, and his heartless view of it all. However, as he's haunted by past events and gets trapped in the Vector, he gets put into a situation where you think that even he doesn't disserve what's about to happen.

And finally there's Han and Chewy. Han is, well, Han, but Chewy gets into some emotional troubles throughout the story. I think what makes this standout above all else is the gore. There is occasional blood in the films, but blood, rot and gore are easily in abundance here. There's one scene where Zahara has to cut open an abdomen to prevent a diseased bite from spreading, all while the said character is awake. You can imagine seeing and feeling someone slice open your body and reaching in. It'll make you quiver.

It also plays off classic horror scares as well. The characters are walking past bodies upon bodies in the Purge, but suddenly they're all gone. A favorite scene of mine is when Trig and Kale walk past a cell with some dead Wookies in it, but their uninfected child is there as well and refuses to leave it's parents. As they walk the long path down the row of cells, just before they are about to leave that area, they hear the young Wookie cry out in pain and they start to hear a chewing sound. I'll let your mind decipher what happened.

Spoiler starts now.

Easily the most disturbing aspects are the survivors of the Vector, trapped in the ship, unable to escape because of a tractor beam holding them. When Jareth is saved by them, he learns that despite there being only seven men, there where originally thirty of them six weeks prior when the virus broke out. When he asks how they didn't die from starvation, he suddenly learns that being saved by them was the last choice he should have made, as they've taken a page from the zombie's playbook. Sometimes the monsters aren't the ugly creatures in the dark, but the humans next to you.

Spoiler ends now.

The book also had some surprises, in that certain characters die off that I wasn't expecting too. After they died off, I thought that it was anyone's ball game as no one was safe now (except for Han and Chewy, of course). It kept me guessing to the last few pages, and I like that.

If I could say one bad thing about this, it would easily be the length, it's just over 200 pages. Depending how much of a reader you are, that's a fast read, and the text isn't that small either. Granted, I'm not sure how he could have expanded it more, but still, a little longer wouldn't have hurt.

You also don't learn the origins of the virus, and that would be a complaint also, except that author Joe has announced that he will be writing a sequel novel, yet to be titled. This is due out in 2011 and it will explain how the virus was discovered. All I can say is that I hope to god Darth Vader is in there; him charging into battle with a horde of zombies would be beyond awesome.

So all in all, I'd say this was a damn fun book. You don't need to be a Star Wars die hard to enjoy it. Hell, it isn't even that far from the films timeline wise (some books take place decades or even centuries from the films), as it's just a year before "A New Hope". If you're a huge Star Wars fan, you'll see stuff here that you'll never see in a Lucas film. If you're a horror fan, you get zombies in space. Either way, everyone wins!