I Call It a "Laser"

James Luceno  “Tarkin:  Star Wars” (Del Rey, 2014)

OK, I THINK this one is actually canon.  I know that all the earlier novels were expelled from the Council of Nicaea or whatever.  But they’ve started writing new novels, & so this is one of the new, now canonical works.  It would be so much easier if they just threw away canon like Doctor Who fandom.

Tarkin is focused on Grand Moff Tarkin, the evil commander from the first Star Wars movie.  There’s a burgeoning rebellion that needs to be crushed & Tarkin is building a huge base that will do some destroying.

This was a fun, if slight novel.  Unfortunately I put its flaws right at the feet of James Luceno.  First, it feels as if Luceno never met exposition that he didn’t like.  Wow.  The amount of talk:show is seriously out of balance.

And what unfortunately makes this imbalance even worse is that it is so mired in continuity.  I’m not a huge Star Wars geek.  I’ve seen the movies.  I’ve read some books.  I’ve read some comics.  I’ve watched a few cartoons.  But wow!  I was really having trouble keeping up with all the names etc that were batted around without any references.

This is not a book for someone interested in getting involved in the SW book universe.  This is a book for those already invested in the peripherals.  If you’re new to this, check out the James SA Corey novel from earlier this year, that one was much more newbie friendly.