Williams, Sean: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Writer: Sean Williams
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 319
Some of you may remember my mentioning that when it comes to reading, I have two guilty pleasures. Richard Paul Evans is one of them. Star Wars is the other. I've been reading the Star Wars Expanded Universe novels since I was in middle school, but the older I got, the less I read them. I'd faithfully buy the titles as they were released and let them accumulate, and then one day out of the blue, I'd decide to play catch-up all at once. The first catch-up was the summer of 2002, the second was spring of 2005, right before Revenge of the Sith was released.
I haven't read a single Star Wars book since then. For that matter, I stopped buying them. For those of you wondering, it had nothing to do with that last movie. Rather, it was that summer that I went to the Odyssey Fantasy Writer's workshop, and then the following January I started my graduate studies in the Seton Hill Writing Popular Fiction Program. I was terrified of going back to the stuff I used to enjoy, because I knew so much more about the genre and craft that I was convinced I'd read those Star Wars books and see them as inferior. Of course, that's not fair: like any series, there's the good, the bad, and the ugly, and good writing is good writing, whether or not it's the author's original creations or not. And in my time, I've read some damn good Star Wars novels.
I've got another stack I need to catch up on, but until Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, I haven't bought a title in a while. Reason being in part of my fears listed above, but also, I was reading so much OTHER work in the SF/F genre that it seemed to be a waste of money. Why keep buying Star Wars books if I wasn't sure if I was going to ever read them?
So what makes this book different? Well, first, I'm familiar with the author. I've read his Star Wars books before, and more important, I'm in love with his original works, The Books of the Cataclysm. Then there's the sheer media force (ha ha) that's been put into this: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is no regular Expanded Universe novel, it's the novelization of a game that's going to be released this month. That's right, a game. The promotion behind this game is like nothing I've ever seen (and a hardcover novelization is nothing to sneeze at), and I can't blame them for wanting to drum up as much interest as possible. The graphics for this game look AMAZING.
When I saw this book had been released, I told myself it wouldn't be a bad way to get back into the Star Wars universe. The story would be self-contained, and it was penned by an author I already knew I liked. Pretty safe bet. So I bought it and read it.
The premise: Darth Vader has a secret apprentice who he's been training in the Dark Side of the Force. This apprentice is meant to help Vader overthrow the Emperor, but as always, when it comes to the Sith, nothing is what it seems. Soon the apprentice is on his own with only his pilot, a woman named Juno, and his training droid, PROXY, as his companions. He's conflicted about his missions, about his loyalty to the Emperor and his Master, and more important, about how he feels about that pilot of his. He might know all about the Dark Side of the Force, but he knows NOTHING about women, and that might be just what undermines his goals to take over the galaxy.
Spoilers behind the cut, and I should note that if you intend to buy the game, consider the spoilers for the book spoilers for the game in terms of battles, storylines, and quite possibly, the end. Fair warning.
I figure that it's got to be hard writing a book that takes place in someone else's creation, because you're held to so many rules. After reading this, I realize it must be DOUBLY hard to write a book based on a videogame, because in this case, you're telling it pretty much exactly like it is.
I got this book because I figured that whatever the superficial story was, we'd get more behind it. And that was true, to an extent. However, the trouble with reading a book based on a game is that the entire plot centers around action, and that action doesn't always make sense in light of a cause/effect plot. The start of this book was pretty rough for me. I could see the formula at work quite clearly, leading the nameless apprentice whose call sign is Starkiller, from mission to mission, and I soon got very, very bored. I dreaded actual action scenes because I knew they were there because they're in the game, and I knew I was going to get far more detail than I wanted and that the battles themselves wouldn't so much as further the plot as they would to add entertainment. Oh, that's not true of ALL the battles, but it felt true for most of them.
The best parts of the book were where we got actual story. When we're experiencing scenes that you wouldn't act out in the game. Juno's POV was particularly refreshing, and I also really liked seeing the camaraderie between Starkiller and PROXY, whose primary function is to catch Starkiller off-guard and kill him. THAT was adorable, the way that played out between the two characters, and it made Starkiller somewhat human, somewhat likable, that and his attraction to Juno.
I have to admit, I was a little annoyed at how Starkiller was referred to as "the apprentice" or "the secret apprentice" or "Darth Vader's secret apprentice" through most of the book. But before I could get too pissy over that stylistic choice, I realize it's probably a result of the game, because in the game, YOU are the secret apprentice, so in order to get readers to identify with the character more, I guess the choice was made to use names as little as possible.
Oh, there's plot-related reasons for that too: Starkiller doesn't know his real name, and when he learns that it's Galen, it's because he's learning the truth of his past and his origins and how Vader came to claim him. That too makes him more human and deepens his conflict, which is nice, but if I were making a stylistic choice, I think I would've used the more obvious second-person POV for Starkiller's chapters. That would've been more fun, and more of a tribute to the gaming industry. Of course, that also might have turned off potential readers, so oh well.
The book gets better, less formulaic after part one is over, when Vader has betrayed Starkiller and left him to die in the vacuums of space. Part two reveals not so! Starkiller is saved by Vader in order to really work against the Emperor and start a Rebellion that'll really get him get his goat and make him weak enough for Vader and Starkiller to strike. Okay, cool. We see more seeds of how the Rebel Alliance is formed. Of course, at this point, Starkiller isn't the total slave to the Dark Side that he was before, and that's a good thing. Another good thing is the tension between Starkiller and Juno, because let's face it, nothing brings about vulnerability in a person than falling in love.
But don't worry: this is no mushy love story. In fact, there's one kiss in the entire book, and that's right before Galen's last mission where he's convinced he's going to die. Oh, and he does. I don't know if the game's going to follow that particular ending, but really, it's no surprise. I liked seeing the roots of the Rebellion, the cameos of Leia, Bail Organa, Mon Mothma and Bel Iblis, as well as the Emperor for that matter, but I knew based on my knowledge of the expanded universe novels that it just wasn't likely that such a powerful Force-user such as Galen could survive and there not ever be any mention of him in later books. Granted, those books were written before this game, but that just seals Galen's fate even more. He has to die. And really, that's fine. It's handled well as Galen chooses the Force over revenge and hate, and that's all what Star Wars is really about when it comes to the Jedi, isn't it?
My Rating
Buy the Paperback: to be honest, I kind of wish I'd bought the graphic novel instead. That too is an option. Reasons being were because as I mentioned before, I got really bored with the predictable rate of action scenes, and unless I've given impeccable descriptions of the visuals, it's all kind of muddy in my head anyway. And let's face it: any book that's a novelization of a VIDEO GAME is bound to be, you know, VISUAL. I'm not blaming Williams for this at all. I think he did well enough with what he had, but frankly, his other Star Wars work and his ORIGINAL work is much, much better. As for the game itself, I don't know. I'm not a gamer, but Greg's downloaded the PS3 demo for me and I'll see how I do and how fast I get impatient with the level of difficulty and the controls. I'll be honest, about the only video games I can handle are Lego: Star Wars and Lego: Indiana Jones. No, I'm not kidding. :)
But as far as the novelization goes, it's a fine idea in and of itself, but I'm really not convinced it warranted a hardcover publication, and if I'd had a choice between a hardcover and a mass-market, I'd take the mass-market. The book seems more geared for that anyway, but since I like the author, I hope he's making some money out of this deal. This isn't at all a solid example of Star Wars novels and what they have to offer, so if you do read this, and it's your first SW novel EVER, don't let this book be the judge and jury of exploring more SW titles. There are MUCH better stories out there, with familiar characters and non-familiar characters, that you can sink your teeth into.
Next up:
Book: Uglies by Scott Westerfield
Graphic Novel: V for Vendetta by Alan Moore