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31 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Videogame-based story bridges some of the space between Episodes III and IV, August 27, 2008
Sean Williams' novel The Force Unleashed is part of a multimedia blitz from Lucasfilm centered around the release of a multi-platform next-gen videogame. This particular project was started in 2005 and has the twin goals of providing a unique and trail-blazing gaming experience while simultaneously adding an important new chapter to the overall Star Wars saga. I've followed the development of The Force Unleashed with a certain degree of skepticism, centered around my doubt that a storyline so focused on creating an over-the-top, ultra-powerful gaming experience would be able to also sustain a compelling narrative.
Now that the novel is here, it appears my concerns were well-founded. The book reads like a summary of a videogame. Yes, that's what it is, but that doesn't lend itself to a well-rounded story. The characters in the book are thinly sketched, the plot is a series of "missions" that end in what are clearly boss fights in the game, and the bigger storyline has such a fundamental impact on the overall story of the saga that it undermines itself by being too rushed. Large expanses of the chapters are devoted either to tedious action sequences or the inner monologues of two of the characters, so not much room is left for meaningful exposition or more exploration of the plot's impact on the other main characters.
The two characters that get the bulk of the attention are Darth Vader's secret apprentice, a boy he has raised to eventually help him overthrow the Emperor, and Juno Eclipse, an Imperial pilot with misgivings about the side of the war she has chosen to fight for. The secret apprentice is the main character in the game, and his missions have a bizarrely amoral bent to them. Since Vader wants him to remain completely secret from everyone in the galaxy, that entails the apprentice slaughtering every single person that crosses his path, even his supposed Imperial allies. It feels like the storyline creators (while Sean Williams wrote this novel, it is based on the overall story from Haden Blackman), were concerned that this character might be too evil if he only wiped out good guys, and so they alleviate that by having him kill everybody. I find it hard to reconcile the apprentice's massive killing sprees with the vastly different role he is placed in at the end of the book.
The other difficulty with the apprentice's missions is the lack of tension during the action. He mows down any number of any enemies he encounters with no problems. His ability to tap the Force is close to unlimited, which is an interesting concept but it certainly doesn't make for a gripping fight scene. There are many descriptions of piles of bodies, people flying into walls, waves of Force power rippling through rooms, but the sequences are so nebulously depicted that they don't have enough impact. He does struggle some in the boss fights, but fans of Darth Vader as he was portrayed in the original trilogy are probably not going to like how his fight with the apprentice turns out here. I also was surprised how quickly his battle with Jedi Master Shaak Ti was resolved. Here is a leading Jedi who had survived sixteen long years since Order 66: it felt like there was a lot more story left to be told. Not to mention her apprentice, who essentially turns bad, fights the apprentice, and runs off, again feeling too much like a scene from the game and not a fully-realized story.
Williams describes the settings well and it is easy to visualize the distinct locations the story rapidly moves through. I enjoyed the brief appearance of a certain Rebel original trilogy character, and the apprentice's droid sidekick Proxy is an innovative concept. Proxy has a hologram technology that allows him to appear as anybody he has in his database, which has interesting ramifications for communications, fight training, and potentially for the apprentice's spy missions. He also provides a few nice moments of comic relief.
I won't spoil the end events of the story, which have a significant impact on the original trilogy of movies. Suffice it to say that they open up some interesting ideas, but I sorely wish Williams could have been freed to spend most of the book on this plotline and a whole lot less on action sequences. After reading the book, I am optimistic that the game itself may be a very engaging experience, but I would mostly recommend the novelization to hardcore fans who, like myself, want to know all the ins and outs of the larger saga.
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16 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A well written outline... little deeper than the graphic novel, August 27, 2008
Having read the graphic novel first, this 300+ page book serves basically as an extended version with little more depth, outside of an extended pair of sequences on Raxis Prime and the Death Star.
Based on the upcoming video game, aptly titled "The Force Unleashed," this book serves as a rough outline of the canonical story and ending of the game. This book follows the views of two main characters, the apprentice and Juno Eclipse. Within the first one hundred fifty pages the apprentice has already completed three of his missions to kill jedi, who get about three sentences of dialog apiece before being dispatched.
Little development is given to any other character, whether Darth Vader, the Emperor, or Ram Kota, each is virtually treated as a cardboard background to the shallow musings of the apprentice or Juno Eclipse. Given that it is a novel, it would have been refreshing to have seen the treatment given to novels of the prequel trilogy, whether the fishing scene between Jango Fett and his son Boba in the Attack of the Clones novelization, or the private musings of the Emperor and Vader which are explored in the Revenge of the Sith novelization. The novel explores no further than the graphic novel, and I'm sure it follows word for word the cut scenes of the video game.
It would have been nice for the author to have gone a bit deeper and given us a different vantage point to experience the story, whether from Darth Vader's point of view, or the Emperor's point of view. The novel is forgettable, and wasn't even as enjoyable as the worst of the Legacy of the Force novels.
Shadows of the Empire was also based on a video game, but at least it went a bit deeper than this book did. A novel gives the author the freedom to explore beyond the video game/movie - and it is sad when you can get virtually 100% of the experience this novel gives you from the 50 page graphic novel. I do not recommend this book for anyone outside of the most rabid of Star Wars fans who must get their hands on everything, and would point you to the graphic novel which at least is narrated by Proxy and gives a slightly different point of view to the story.
Sean Williams can write very well grammatically speaking, but artistically he expressed nothing more than could be expressed through pictures and comic bubbles. He should think about expanding beyond his source material for whatever he decides to write next time.
Save your money.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not very well thought out, October 2, 2008
As much as I love Star Wars, I can't recommend this book. First, the main character, Starkiller seems too powerful. I don't believe at any time he even broke a sweat going against any non force user. I mean I know the Jedi/Sith are very strong, but come on! He performed stunts I don't think even Yoda could do on a good day!
Also, the books are supposed to harmonize. From my understanding, the Rebellion had its initial beginnings long before the time this book seems to make it (in the old Han Solo triliogy, the Rebels already had a small number of ships, and were trying to come together into an alliance.) In this book, it seems as if Starkiller did a few things that spanked the empire, and Bail Organa said, "that's cool-maybe we can rebel too!" It just seemed very unbelievable to me.
Another gripe I have with this book is that it seems to have no real idea how to make characters. I mean take the second Jedi that Starkiller went after. If you are in hiding from a galactic government that is eager to kill all Jedi, would you build a mock Jedi temple on a planet filled with scavenging scum who would sell information condemning their own mother for 2 credits? And, yes, he was obviously...unhinged, but I don't believe that explanation holds water for someone who has had the mental disciplines to be a Jedi anyway.
The only redemptive qualities of the book in my opinion are the droid Proxy (the idea of the holograms was cool!) and the Jedi Rahm Kota. His personality and fleshed-out characterization was interesting.
Another thing, why would Starkiller need a pilot? Darth Maul traveled alone, Vader can pilot a starfighter, and so it seems can any trained person. Wouldn't having another person knowing of a secret apprentice be a bad thing?
I'm sorry, but to me there are just too many plot holes for me to put this as part of Star Wars canon in my mind (like how if Bail Organa was already known as a rebel, why did Leia try to bluff her way with Vader at the beginning of a New Hope-the list goes on and on)
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