Review: Star Wars: The Clone Wars by Karen Traviss

Mass market paperback, 256 pages
Published 2009 (originally 2008)

Acquired and read August 2014

Star Wars: The Clone Wars
by Karen Traviss

A couple years ago, I decided to watch the Clone Wars cartoon from beginning to end, and read the tie-in novels and comics alongside it. I didn't get very far, but that wasn't really the show's fault. I did get far enough to read two of the novels, the first of which, simply titled The Clone Wars, novelizes the events of the film that kicked off the series. Quite frankly, Karen Traviss's talents are wasted on the pile of shit that was the film's script-- things like Jabba's gay cousin do not need any fleshing out, and like Diane Carey, she delights a little too much in having characters inwardly snark about how the events/dialogue of the story are implausible or bad. That doesn't rectify the problems, it just makes you think you should be reading a different book, given the book's own author doesn't even like it. Traviss's Star Wars books are distinguished for her depth of characterization, but there's nothing to pin that to here, and her dislike of significant components of the Star Wars concept becomes a little too obvious in places. Traviss writing clone characters is always appreciated, though.

Return of the New Jedi Order, Episode I: Boba Fett: A Practical Man by Karen Traviss

Kindle eBook, n.pag.
Published 2006
Acquired December 2013
Read February 2014

Star Wars: Boba Fett: A Practical Man
by Karen Traviss

Year Zero of the Invasion
The recent publication of Invasion, a comic series taking place during The New Jedi Order, has me revisiting the series, which originally ran from 1999 to 2003-- amazingly it finished over ten years ago now! There are a number of peripheral additions to the series (short stories, comics, and the like) that I didn't read at the time, so I'm giving those a shot this time around, starting with A Practical Man, a prequel novella that sets the stage for what Boba Fett and the Mandalorians were up to during the Yuuzhan Vong invasion.

Unfortunately, it doesn't do much more than that. A Practical Man is largely a dot-connecting exercise, with little insight into the Mandalorians in general or Boba Fett in particular. Which is a shame, because Boba Fett going from the ultimate loner to the leader of an entire civilization ought to be fertile ground for Traviss's usually excellent character work, but that just doesn't happen here. There are glimpses of it, and I like the contrast between the different warrior ethos of the Mandalorians and the Yuuzhan Vong, but this story is too fundamentally simple to be interesting.

Archival Review: Star Wars: Republic Commando: True Colors by Karen Traviss

Mass market paperback, 482 pages
Published 2007
Acquired and read November 2007

Star Wars: Republic Commando: True Colors

by Karen Traviss

The Republic Commando series continues from strength to strength-- I thought the first volume, Hard Contact, was all right, but the second, Triple Zero, was excellent, and though this one is not quite as good as that, it is by no means bad.  It's less focused than the second book, gathering in a number of characters in unrelated situations across the galaxy, which is its biggest flaw, but it does have more rocking commando action.  As always, Traviss's biggest strength is the ability to get inside the heads of her characters.  The viewpoint of each one is strong and distinct, almost overpoweringly so-- you find yourself believing whatever the viewpoint character believes quite often.  It's a different perspective than most other novels-- focusing on Jedi characters-- give us on the Clone Wars, and it's a welcome one, too.  These are a group of clones with a little more awareness of their plight, and that raises some intriguing questions about the morality of the Clone Wars. 

I look forward to the further of adventures of Delta Squad, Omega Squad, the Nulls, and the Cuy'val Dar in Order 66, though I'm bummed out that that has to be a hardcover.  I really must pick up Traviss's original sf someday.