Star Wars Galaxies: The Ruins of Dantooine [Mass Market Paperback]

Voronica Whitney-Robinson (Author), Haden Blackman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 30, 2003

Enter the explosive universe of the exciting online game

STAR WARS GALAXIES:
AN EMPIRE DIVIDED!

It is a time of great turmoil. The oppressive Empire is close to seizing complete control of the galaxy. The ragtag guerrilla army of the Rebel Alliance fights on, striking wherever it can, but now something has come to light that could spell certain doom. Hidden in the Jedi ruins of Dantooine is a Holocron containing a list of high-level Rebel sympathizers. If that list were to fall into the hands of Darth Vader, the Rebel Alliance would lose its most valued support—and possibly the war itself.

As an Imperial bio-engineer who frequently visits other worlds, Dusque Mistflier is the perfect cover for a Rebel who needs to travel far and wide without arousing suspicion. And so she agrees to help Rebel spy Finn Darktrin in his quest to recover the crucial Holocron. Despite help from Han, Luke, and Leia, the mission is fraught with peril. And as their journey takes them into the fiery belly of the beast that is galactic civil war, Dusque and Finn will learn that the hardest part of all is figuring out whose side you’re on—and how far you’re willing to go to win. . . .

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Enter the explosive universe of the exciting online game

STAR WARS GALAXIES:
AN EMPIRE DIVIDED!

It is a time of great turmoil. The oppressive Empire is close to seizing complete control of the galaxy. The ragtag guerrilla army of the Rebel Alliance fights on, striking wherever it can, but now something has come to light that could spell certain doom. Hidden in the Jedi ruins of Dantooine is a Holocron containing a list of high-level Rebel sympathizers. If that list were to fall into the hands of Darth Vader, the Rebel Alliance would lose its most valued support?and possibly the war itself.

As an Imperial bio-engineer who frequently visits other worlds, Dusque Mistflier is the perfect cover for a Rebel who needs to travel far and wide without arousing suspicion. And so she agrees to help Rebel spy Finn Darktrin in his quest to recover the crucial Holocron. Despite help from Han, Luke, and Leia, the mission is fraught with peril. And as their journey takes them into the fiery belly of the beast that is galactic civil war, Dusque and Finn will learn that the hardest part of all is figuring out whose side you?re on?and how far you?re willing to go to win. . . .

About the Author

Voronica Whitney-Robinson has worked as a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa, a veterinary assistant in New Zealand, and a marine biologist in Seattle. She has written four novels for Wizards of the Coast. She lives with her husband in Washington State.

Haden Blackman is producer at LucasArts on Star Wars® Galaxies™: An Empire Divided™, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) set in the classic Star Wars universe and one of the largest Star Wars video game ever built. Blackman has worked in interactive entertainment as a writer, voice director, and content supervisor. He is also the author of The Field Guide to North American Monsters, The Field Guide to North American Hauntings, Star Wars: The New Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels, and numerous Star Wars comic books.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: LucasBooks (December 30, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345470664
• ISBN-13: 978-0345470669
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 0.8 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #306,413 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #37 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Entertainment > Puzzles & Games > Video & Electronic Games

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars video game tie-ins seldom pay off, March 1, 2005

By 

Joe Sherry (Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Star Wars Galaxies: The Ruins of Dantooine (Mass Market Paperback)

The last Star Wars novel I read that was based on a video game was the excellent "Republic Commando: Hard Contact" by Karen Traviss. I had hopes that "The Ruins of Dantooine" could be nearly as good as the Traviss novel, but it wasn't to be. "The Ruins of Dantooine" felt somewhat like a video game and it just wasn't very good. The story was fairly simple and quest orientated and wasn't nearly as engaging as it could have been.

The Empire learns that a Rebel Holocron has been left on the planet Dantooine. The holocron contains a full list of all of the Rebel Alliance spies within the Empire. If it falls into the hands of the Empire it could effectively crush the ability of the Rebellion to operate. Everything would be compromised. The Empire sends one of their spies to recover the holocron. The Alliance sends Finn Darktrin to locate the holocron before the Empire finds it. An Empire biologist, Dusque Mistflier, somehow gets mixed up into the search for the holocron and assists Finn as Dusque becomes more and more disillusioned with the realities of the Empire.

This book just wasn't very interesting. The story itself is quite basic and followed a video game structure with missions and a boss battle. While the chance to explore Dantooine, and a post Prequel Trilogy Naboo was potentially interesting, the overall experience was weak and lacking. The one good thing here is that there is no need to have played the game to understand the story, but I can only hope that the game was better than this book. It was a nice effort, but the only reason to read this book is to read every Star Wars book published. That's about it.

-Joe Sherry

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars What in God's name is this, January 23, 2004

By 

"colhawkins" (The Internet) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Star Wars Galaxies: The Ruins of Dantooine (Mass Market Paperback)

Having played the game, then read the book, I have to say that I have never read a worse Star Wars novel in my life. Yes, you heard me, 'The Ruins of Dantooine' is terrible. From the very beginning of the book where it tries to tie in the book with the game by inserting some junk about how the main character became a bioengineer by 'mastering scout and learning a medic's knowledge of organic chemistry' (apparently Star Wars characters have to climb the same trees as you do in the game at the Imperial Academy. I bet Luke unlocked his Force Sensitive Character Slot when he mastered Tatooine Dirt Farming by gaining Vaporator Maintenance 4, but I digress). In any event the book is the most boring read that I have ever encountered. Play the game, fine, but stay as far away from the book as possible. Especially if you haven't played the game, because most of the LOL THIS IS JUST LIKE IN STAR WARS GALAXIES LOL jokes will end up going straight over your head and making the book seem worse than it already is.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Better than typical game-to-book tie-in, January 13, 2004

By 

Top Dragon (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Star Wars Galaxies: The Ruins of Dantooine (Mass Market Paperback)

This is not Baldur's Gate 1 or 2. Thank your lucky stars! For fans of the on-line role playing game, Star Wars Galaxies (SWG), this is a neat little novel. I found the plot to be interesting, mostly because I have been playing SWG since it went retail and I thought it interesting to see how many of the game devices were woven into the plot. It's almost as if they developed a list of game characters, planets, professions, and beasts and see how many of them they could get into the book. They even refer to imperials as "imps". I could see my own character in the locations described and felt like "I" was there.

If you are not a player or fan of SWG then skip this Star Wars entry as the characters are mostly cardboard and the plot pretty predictable. I will give kudos to the author(s) for having courage in the ending, however. Overall, I enjoyed it but wouldn't recommend it to a non SWG player