This is military sci-fi masked as a Star Wars novel. In fact, screw that, it’s a military novel disguised as sci-fi. The co-authors are ex-NCOs from the Viet-Nam era. A lot of the dialogue is similar to stuff I heard from the old vets that used to hang out in front of the PX at Fort Meade, or the Korean War vets I interviewed back in the day: “Freedom isn’t free,” “Logistics is the secret to warfare," "Sergeants run the Army,” etc. That kinda stuff. I’m not dissing – but it was a lecture when they said it and it’s a lecture in this novel too.
Anyway, the plot, such as there is, concerns Anakin and a disgraced Jedi named Nejaa Halcyon who have been assigned to lead a counter-assault on some God-forsaken planet that one of Dooku’s minions has invaded. Anakin and Nejaa get along really well because Nejaa has anger management issues and Nejaa has a wife and kids that he’s hiding from the Jedi Council.
This is all well and cool, but huge chunks of the story concern minor characters that you don’t really care about. There is a romance between two soldiers that have been separated from their units that is perfunctory and boring. And Anakin isn’t Anakin – he respects the chain of command, bonds with a Rodian Sergeant Major, compliments his troops and doesn’t act like a loner. That’s just not him.
One good thing about the novel is that it shows non-clone, non-Jedi troops are involved in the Clone Wars too. It has started to trouble me that no one in any of these novels has mentioned that the use of these clones to fight a war is morally repugnant. The clones of Jango Fett are slaves. They were purchased from the Kamino government, they were bred to fight and they don’t get to decide what they want to do with their lives.
That’s the definition of slavery.
If the Galactic Republic is worth fighting for, free people should be fighting for it, not people who have been enslaved.
How is this okay with the Jedi?
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