Star Wars: Doctor Aphra
Dr. Aphra teams up with Darth Vader himself in this audiobook original—an expanded adaptation of the critically acclaimed Marvel comics series, performed by a full cast.
Dr. Chelli Lona Aphra, rogue archaeologist, is in trouble again.
A pioneer in the field of criminal xenoarchaeology, Aphra recognizes no law, has no fear, and possesses no impulse control. To her, the true worth of the galactic relics she discovers isn’t found in a museum, but in an arsenal. This viewpoint has led to a lot of misunderstandings. After her latest plan goes horribly wrong, her roguish ways are on the verge of catching up to her, when suddenly Darth Vader, terror of the galaxy, swoops in with his lightsaber ignited, and…saves her life?
Don’t get her wrong—it’s not like she’s ungrateful. Sure, her new boss is a lord of the Sith. And OK, she may have just become a pawn in a deadly game being played by him and HIS boss, who happens to be the Galactic Emperor. And yes, the life expectancy of anyone who disappoints Vader can be measured in seconds.
But she’s back doing what she does best. She’s got a ship to fly, a heist to pull, and two unorthodox but effective metal buddies: Triple-Zero, a protocol droid specializing in etiquette, customs, translation, and torture; and BT-1, an astromech loaded with enough firepower to take down a battlecruiser. Together, they might just find a way to get the job done and avoid the deadly performance review that waits at its conclusion.
Just kidding. She’s doomed.
Author: Sarah Kuhn
Release Date: 6th April 2021
Page Count: 286 pages
ISBN: ISBN 9780593157251
In this the second original audio drama released by Penguin Random House Audio and Lucasfilm we step forward in the timeline from a pivotal time in the life of Count Dooku in Dooku: Jedi Lost to just after the destruction of the Death Star and the ‘hero’ of the piece, Doctor Chelli Lona Aphra. I throw quotation marks around the word hero very consciously, as Aphra is as much the hero of Star Wars: Doctor Aphra as Rene Belloq is of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Aphra is far from the villain of the piece, but if you’re looking for heroes then to paraphrase Sallah and Indy, you’re digging in the wrong place.
Equal parts Harley Quinn, Ace Ventura, Jenna Maroney and Chandler Bing, Doctor Aphra is the perfect character to follow on such adventures. Narrating in much the same way you’d imagine Lando Calrissian does in ‘The Calrissian Chronicles’, the story is told completely from her point of view, making her the hero of her own story. Equal to everyone she meets, she’s always on the lookout for the angle, or as she refers to it, the door. She’s dangerously sassy with Vader and Palpatine, backchats Han Solo and Leia, sweet talks Black Krrsantan and outsmarts Boba Fett and while it’s worth remembering that this is more in the vein of The Legends of Luke Skywalker story than the canonical comics upon which this five and a half hour audio is based, there’s no doubt that questionable morals aside, Aphra is a survivor.
Her brilliance also is in no doubt. Flashbacks to her university years, where she schooled with and fell in love with the future Mrs Han Solo Sana Starros show a wasted career in academia (which to be honest wouldn’t have been much fun for us readers / listeners), exchanged for a yearning for illegal adventure formed in even earlier flashbacks to her childhood years with her parents, her father keen for her to stretch her wings and assist him on digs, her mother determined to protect her. It’s the loss of her mother that really haunts her, even though she tries to bluster through it and scenes where she gives in to her emotions – recorded and encoded in case anyone else should hear them – are revealing. You never know whether the tears she sheds are genuine of crocodile, but there’s no doubt that behind the facade there’s an actual heart beating somewhere.
While the story was never designed to be the length of a regular novel, this hardback scripted edition brings us a flighty dip into the life of Aphra, and from this first outing there’s certainly plenty of fuel in the tank to justify Sarah Kuhn and this cast doing more, hopefully next time with an original score to match.
- Hardcover Book
- Kuhn, Sarah (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 304 Pages - 04/06/2021 (Publication Date) - Random House Worlds (Publisher)
