Star Wars: Death Troopers
When the Imperial prison barge Purge – temporary home to five hundred of the galaxy’s most ruthless killers, rebels, scoundrels and thieves – breaks down in a distant, uninhabited part of space, its only hope seems to lie with a Star Destroyer found drifting, derelict, and seemingly abandoned. But when a boarding party is sent to scavenge for parts, only half of them come back – bringing with them a horrific disease so lethal that within hours, nearly all aboard the Purge will die in ways too hideous to imagine.
And death is only the beginning.
The Purge’s half-dozen survivors – two teenage brothers, a sadistic captain of the guards, a couple of rogue smugglers and the chief medical officer, the lone woman on board – will do whatever it takes to stay alive. But nothing can prepare them for what lies waiting on board the Star Destroyer amid its vast creaking emptiness that isn’t really empty at all. For the dead are rising, soulless, unstoppable, and unspeakably hungry.
Author: Joe Schreiber
Cover artist: Tula Lotay
Publisher: Del Rey
Release date: August 2, 2022
Pages: 265
ISBN: 0345509625
What’s it’s about?
Young brothers, Trig and Kale Longo, are inmates aboard the prison barge The Purge. Zahara Cody is the prison doctor, both despised and lusted after. Captain Sartoris is the head of the prison guards and has more than one skeleton in his closet.
Should I read this book?
If you’re a fan of horror, Star Wars and edge-of-your-seat thrill rides then you should absolutely read this book. Make no mistake; this is a zombie story. It’s full of the familiar tropes and touchstones of the subgenre and its Star Wars setting doesn’t dilute the terror, gore and tension that you’d expect.
I’m a big fan of authors taking influence from different genres within a shared universe, and this is a far more successful example of Star Wars horror than anything before or since.
If you can’t stop reading Star Wars but want a break from the more traditional stories about Jedi’s and scoundrels, then this could exactly the palate cleanser you’re looking for. It’s also the perfect Star Wars book to read in the lead up to Halloween.
What did you like?
Once the story got going, I found it hard to put down. It’s a breakneck, no holds barred firecracker of a book that will stay with you long after you finish it. The characters were well realised and easy to connect to, making you root for their survival and dreading their demise. It’s a small thing but one that’s huge to Star Wars readers. We rarely get to follow characters whose fate isn’t known to us before going in. There are genuine stakes here and I found myself turning each page hesitantly with one eye closed, scared to reveal the end of one of my protagonists.
I also loved the idea of a Star Wars story set in a prison. There’s many an interesting tale that could be told in that setting and it amazes me we haven’t had much more than a couple of comic arcs and this one book. I’d take a whole series set on a prison barge with or without the zombies. The book sets up its own mysteries and dramas before the virus is even discovered and they largely get squashed when the real “meat” of the story kicks in. You’d think this would be a negative, but it put me in mind of the intentional misdirect found in From Dusk ‘Til Dawn and it only adds power to chaos and violence of when the story really kicks into gear.
What did you not like?
It would be irresponsible of me not to issue a warning of sorts. There are some scenes in this book that are really hard to take. They’re typical of the zombie genre but it’s incredibly disarming to come across moments like these in a Star Wars book. There’s one particular scene about a third into the book that made me put the book down and collect myself before I continued on my dark journey. It’s not a negative by any means, but I’ve spoken to a few people that found they couldn’t continue reading when they hit these chapters. So, take this as a warning to bring your big boy/girl pants when you read this book.
What’s next?
There’s a prequel to this book set during the Old Republic titled Red Harvest. I have yet to read it, but I’ve heard it’s better to read after Death Troopers. As Star Wars fans we are more than used to experiencing prequels after the original material, so I’m looking forward to reading that one.
In canon there is also George Mann’s horror inspired short story collection Dark Legends, which would make sense to pick up if you’re feeling this darker side of the galaxy far, far away.
Anything else to add?
There’s a couple of cameos in this book that some may say are unnecessary and I can see why, especially as there’s no way that this character would be the same after the events of Death Troopers and we previously met them after these events in the Legends timeline. I will say though that the characterisation was spot on, so it didn’t bother me too much.