The Force Unleashed (Star Wars) [Paperback]

Haden Blackman (Author), Brian Ching (Illustrator), David Ross (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 18, 2008 | Series: Star Wars

LucasArts' game The Force Unleashed, is poised to be the Star Wars event of the year. The game-play promises to be stunning, but we think it's the story that will blow you away. Revealed here are the origins of Darth Vader's secret apprentice, the deadly missions on which he was sent to track down and destroy Jedi, and the awesome decision he is forced to make that will, literally, change the way you look at the Star Wars saga!

Product Details

• Paperback: 104 pages
• Publisher: Dark Horse Comics (August 18, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593078919
• ISBN-13: 978-1593078911
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 6.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #68,538 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Same story, new faces, impossible powers, August 31, 2008

By 

Daiho - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Force Unleashed (Star Wars) (Paperback)

The Force Unleashed is about a young man with Force powers so immense he can whip Vader and the Emperor simultaneously. Based on a video game in which you get to play this Force-wielding giant, the conceptual emphasis is on action and playability, rather than character or drama. Consequently the graphic novel reads like a series of set pieces, big fight scenes with a bit of exposition to tie them together. Ostensibly the plot concerns the inception of the Rebellion, but as with the beginnings of most things in the Star Wars universe, the origin of the Alliance is more than it seems.

Thematically, TFU cleaves closely to the SW universe formula - young man spends his life doing bad and redeems himself in the end with a tiny act of good. The orphaned Starkiller is raised as Darth Vader's secret apprentice, an amoral assassin who dispatches with equal skill characters on both sides of the war. Somewhere along the way he switches to being a good guy with a conscience and a love interest, though it's not really clear how either develops. Neither is why the leaders of the Rebellion trust anyone who shows up at their door expressing an interest in sacking the Empire.

The artwork is a mixed bag, with Brain Ching opening and closing the story with some finely illustrated chapters. Unfortunately, as with his stint on Knights of the Old Republic, he seems unable to work fast enough to complete an entire project - or takes assignments with impossible deadlines - and so we get a couple of less skilled artists working on the middle sections.

There is a novel of the same name covering the exact same story. I haven't yet read it, but given author Sean Williams' track record (as coauthor of one of the worst chapters of the New Jedi Order), and given that the graphic novel isn't anything worth bragging about, I'd wager the novel is as limp, or with more extraneous material, even limper. My suggestion would be to unleash your own force on the game. That is, if you have a console. PC users will have to settle for the graphic novel.

#

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A different view from the Book version, September 29, 2008

By 

Outlaw Star DLH 5805 "Raygar" (Tampa, FL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Force Unleashed (Star Wars) (Paperback)

Having read BOTH the book and graphic novel I can say that the story line in the graphic novel is told from a different point of view and in a totally different way then from the book version.

I would recommend reading the book version first then the graphic novel that way you can see what the graphic novel skipped over or shows a small part of it. (I would have liked to see the robotic versions of the jedi council that starkiller fights while fighting another jedi master in the book version).

It does show you what Proxy looks like as well as the Bull Rancor. It also tells you WHY (in both the book and graphic novel) Starkiller went from being a sith lord trainee to a jedi trainee.

For those above the age of 15, I would disregard the 3 and below star reviews since it seems that they were basing their reviews on the tv commercials, what they read in a gamer magazine or they was looking at the pictures and not reading the story.

IF you want a full background story about "Force Unleashed" then read the book, but IF you want a quick story that hits the high points then get the graphic novel.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not bad at all, September 14, 2008

By 

E. Brousseau (Montreal, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Force Unleashed (Star Wars) (Paperback)

First, I must say that I'm a casual fan of SW. I read a couple of novels, comics, played some games so I don't know all the storylines, what is cannon and what is not, etc. I just love to read good stories set in different universes and I don't mind if it screws some "facts" established in others stories. That said, I must say that I liked it. It was not too predictable for a Star Wars story and it is refreshing to read something set in this time period. My only complaint is that it could have been longer. I would have cared more for the characters but I suppose that to read the novel and the game will add some meat to the bone. So, for a Graphic Novel, it does well what it is suppose to do and I recommend this product.