Star Wars: Death Troopers (edition 2009)

I can't say I'm into horror really, but I am in favor of a tie-in line that branches out and tries something new and different, so I was excited when Death Troopers was announced.  Zombies in Star Wars aren't new-- the Vector miniseries included something very similar-- but the explicit horror focus is.  I mean, look at that amazing cover!

Unfortunately, this is a case of the idea being better than the execution.  The cover is amazing... but it's pretty much the most amazing part of the book.  It starts off so sloooooow, though once the zombies show up, it never stops moving, and it Schreiber's good enough that it carried me through in only a couple sittings.  The characters are flat and pretty cliché (though I liked the medical droid).  Despite being "horror" there's only one scene I thought was scary... though it was very chilling.  There's also a surprise appearance that I think could have made me groan quite easily, but worked very well in execution.  So not great, and maybe not even good, but worth the brief amount of time it took to read, and praiseworthy in concept if nothing else.

Read this right after I had finished the semi-prequel, Red Harvest. It was ok. I feel like the author spent way too much time showing us the characters and setting (more than half the book) before anything actually happened. There wasn't much in the way of suspense or real horror in the story. Even worse, it didn't feel like a Star Wars story at all, even with the addition of Han Solo and Chewbacca as lead characters (although, they didn't come in until more than halfway through the story, which was strange).

I really only recommend this story for Star Wars completest. It'll leave anyone else a bit bored and scratching their head. ( )

God help me, but I liked this book. I didn't want to and didn't really think I would, but well, I did...and most likely because I didn't expect much from it in the first place.

When I first heard of a Star Wars book about zombies, I could only predict disastrous results. Zombies are fine and good, but I couldn't imagine their presence in my beloved Star Wars universe; it just didn't feel right. But I can't deny I was curious. I saw that Death Troopers was also a fairly short read, so I picked it up.

A whaddya know, a few chapters in and I actually started having fun. I mean, wookiee zombies? And there was that delightful surprise when a couple of old friends showed up...

Sure, there were lots of plot holes and things that didn't make any sense, but that was fine because this book was also everything its cover promised -- blood, gore, dismembered body parts, flesh eating Stormtroopers and Imperial zombies, children being put through the most horrible and terrifying situations, etc. I mean, you don't pick up a book like this and expect anything more. It delivered where it was supposed to, and that's what matters to me.

That said, it's probably pretty obvious, but this is not your family-friendly general-audience type of Star Wars book. A little kid would probably have nightmares after reading this.

Anyway, now I'm thinking about picking up Red Harvest, Schreiber's other zombie/Star Wars mash-up book that was released a few months ago...and trying not to feel dirty for it. These books belong in my closet of guilty pleasures for sure. ( )

Star Wars and zombies - do you really need to say more than that? When a prison barge breaks down and is forced to dock with a seemingly abandoned Star Destroyer to scavenge parts, the inmates soon learn there are things worse than life on a prison planet. This would be a good Star Wars novel, or a good zombie novel, in its own right. Put them together and its more fun than an Ewok in a blender. Featuring a surprise, starring role by a pair of Star Wars regulars, this is a book fans can't afford to miss. ( )

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...
Predictable opening I guess but I just had to go there.
Even though I love the Star Wars movies I had never crossed paths with a Star Wars novel before. I had been meaning to for a long, long time but there was always something else that took preference. Well, I finally shoved all other books aside and made time for Death Troopers.
Do you like zombies? Do you like Star Wars? Then, in theory at least, you would love Death Troopers as it's essentially a Star Wars zombie novel.
I liked the cover of the book as it was selling me on a more adult orientated novel. I didn't like that the cover of the book, when taken off and opened up showing the inside, doubled as a poster. I find it almost sacrilegious that someone even came up with the idea of making a poster out of a book cover. Book covers are meant to cover books and not be pinned to a wall.
So what about the story? Well, it's pretty much standard fare with a starship full of convicts contracting a virus, dying then coming back to life craving human flesh. I've never really understood why those who come back from the dead as zombies always crave human flesh? Why not carrots? Why not peanut butter? Always human flesh.
Anyhow, a few people happen to be immune one of which just happens to be a doctor who then goes on to make an anti-virus. That anti-virus is given to Han Solo and Chewbacca who don't actually appear in this novel until ninety-seven pages in. The novel itself is only 234 pages in length. The plot then revolves around Han, Chewie and a few other characters trying to make their escape and not being eaten by the zombies.
I'm sure my Star Wars novel virginity could have been given away to a more deserving read; one that would not leave me feeling unsatisfied and craving another novel to take to bed with me in order to satiate my literary desires. It's not that this book is terrible, it's just all very cliche and run of the mill. It started off well and the characters of Trig and Kale were promising. Unfortunately that promise was never fulfilled and I found myself not caring whether they lived or died. Of course, being a Star Wars novel there was never any doubt Han Solo and Chewbacca would survive so the supporting cast needed to be stronger.
If you're a big Star Wars fan then there's probably enough in this novel to keep you happy. If you're a zombie fan you will have read books like this countless times before. If you're a neutral then I wouldn't really recommend this novel at all. ( )

I am not a Star Wars fan. I enjoy the original trilogy films, but beyond that, I have no interest. So why would I read a Star Wars book and expect to enjoy it? A couple of reasons. First, I like to try different genre stuff. Maybe I'm missing something. Zombie Storm Troopers? That's kinda hard to resist. Also, I heard an interview with Joe Schreiber, and he seems like a good egg. So why not give it try?

Mr. Schreiber is a competent writer. There were no glaring mistakes or serious plot holes. The dialog wasn't bad (he nailed Han Solo's dialog, and I wondered if he watched the movies repeatedly to do it — it all sounded too familiar). I just found the book boring. Nothing interesting went on, nothing creepy. You know who survives for sure, and the character's whose survival is in jeopardy I didn't care about. Besides, there is nothing all that Star Warsy about the story. Change the names of two character and it's zombies in space. Really. Change two character names to Frank and Bill, change couple character/species references to Dark Invader and Hairy Guy and it's a piece of genre fiction, not Star Wars (I know I'm not funny, but you get my point. It's generic).

So, is this a Star Wars fans only type of work? I don't see how. They get bored too. ( )

While on a routine transport mission back to home base, the Imperial prison barge "Purge" suffers a mechanical malfunction, forcing all engines to stop. Unable to repair the broken equipment with what they have on hand, the crew discovers a Star Destroyer adrift in space near them. Their hails return no responses, and all scans report that no life forms are aboard so the ship's Captain drafts a salvage crew together to head over to the derelict ship to find anything they can use to repair the "Purge".

The eerie silence aboard the Star Destroyer unsettles the salvage crew, yet they trudge onward, breaking into two teams to find anything to repair their ship. Something comes with them when they make their way back to the "Purge", and within hours, most of the crew and the prisoners develop strong, flu-like symptoms then die agonizing deaths. For the handful of survivors -- a lone female doctor, the brothers Trig and Kale Longo, a mean-spirited Captain of the Guards and two rogue smugglers -- their troubles have only just begun. Because the dead are waking up, and they're very hungry.

"Death Troopers" surprised me. I thought it would be just another franchise trying to jump into the zombie foray because it's the flavor of the moment. But I found Joe Schreiber's twist on the zombies quite refreshing. These creepy crawlies learned -- and very quickly -- and then communicated with others like them. But what made this a more intense story was placing everyone within the confines of a mostly dark space ship. Where do you go when there really is no place left to run? Much of the imagery took the "mad scientist" concept to a new level, with such things as large tanks filled with a thick liquid and human parts still intact and still functioning. (It was actually an eerily beautiful scene.)

I'm not sure the addition of Han Solo and Chewbacca to the story added much, except to reinforce that this novel falls into the Star Wars universe. A few times, I also scratched my head trying to figure out how a character managed to get from one place to another. One such instance occurred with the Longo brothers that seemed -- to me -- to defy logical explanation. That, however, did not affect my enjoyment of the novel, and I believe that fans of the the zombie genre will enjoy it as well. ( )

A great book! Zombies and Star Wars, what could be better. ( )

Whenever a new SW book comes out, of course I'm going to buy it and read it, but when it's written by a first-time SW author, I'm always hesitant. Death Troopers is Joe Schreiber's first. It starts out great with a nice pace then quickly deteriorates into a story that contains stereotypical horror genre monsters. I really liked the characters and the beginning held so much promise, but then Schreiber introduces well-established SW characters, so it ruins the story's ending long before it ends. This sci-fi/horror (stereotypical horror, remember) cross genre is incredibly LAME. Big disappointment. ( )

http://www.fnordinc.com/2010/02-20/book-review-death-troopers-joe-schreiber/

like an unconcerned lover, meeting you for a “nooner”, Death Troopers is quick and dirty. it doesnt ask you how you are doing or if you are getting close. when it is finished, it rolls out of bed and leaves you staring, asking “what exactly just happened”. you feel a little dirty, then you shower and get back to work. in the end, it is still a nooner, so who can scoff at that? not i.

a little background info to explain the above..

as a kid, i was an avid book reader. you put it in front of me, and it would be consumed. scifi, conspiracy, historical fiction.. even the babysitters club.

i was a blank template for the DnD dice rolling dork who, at 40, woulds till be living in the basement. a virgin, who had +60 defense against magic.

i was a sucker for sci-fi movies. i watched starwars, star trek, battle star (original), buck rogers.. my dad ended up recording over our copy of The Beastmaster because my brother and i watched it far far too often.

as i got older, conspiracy’s became more of a focus, zombies and the occult.. i began theorizing how i would reinforce structures in case of a zombie apocalypse. i became the dice rolling dork, and escaped with only minimal scarring.

although i have been considered a geek for most of my life, i have been able to keep myself out of the uber geek, fanboy, socially scary category. Joe Schreiber screwed that all up for me.

by combining Starwars and Zombies into a novel, Joe forced me to pick up a Starwars universe book. this is the first that i have ever read, and as we all know, addictions always start with a single experience…. so.. damn you Joe.. and thank you joe…, . but ultimately.. damn you Joe. i am one step closer to becoming the “starwars kid”. someone keep video cameras away from me for a while.

when i bought this, i found that the dust cover on the book was reversible, a poster for the book. the cover itself, instead of being blank as many hard covers, sported the books image.. inside, a timeline for where this book exists in the universe (between 1-5 years before “A New Hope”).

The plot is pretty basic, Prison barge breaks down in the abyss of space. a Star Destroyer is sound, which has only 10 life forms aboard. prison guard enters the Star Destroyer to scavenge parts, then all hell breaks loose.

For those who say “i dont like star wars, so i wont read this” get over it. this is a horror/zombie novel. Starwars is almost cursory in most places. with the exception of references to familiar starwars species and verbiage, there is not much here that is out of the ordinary for a space/sci-fi storyline. no magic microbes that let you levitate stuff, no “laser swords” or cryptic green man doling out advice from a swamp.

for the avid starwars fan, you wont be disappointed by some of the surprises either. some references just cant be made in a review, doing so would just be bad form on my part.

in the end, i would suggest this book for any sci-fi or horror fan. at 230 pages, it was fast and fun. i look forward to reading it a second time, and loaning it out.

~~

To ballantine/del-rey books:

Great job on the design of Death troopers. there is one aspect that kinda pissed me off though.

What is the point in putting an excerpt in the end of the book for marketing purposes when you choose to put in chapters 3-5? do you realize that with out chapters 1 and 2, we are less likely to read it? that it makes little sense and therefore has a negative impact on the choice to buy the book you have excerpted?

in the book you chose, the characters exist nearly 40 years (thank you timeline!!) after a new hope. the book looks good, but it took far too long to get to the point where i understood what was happening. to be honest, if i were to buy the book, i would not read the first two chapters, as i am already far past their usability.

i have never run into a teaser excerpt that was mid book, and i hope i never do again.

what were you thinking..? very annoying

- FNORDinc.com ( )

This is my first dive into the Star Wars universe via the book world. I have always been a huge Star Wars fan, but through the movies and cartoons only. Although I have frequently perused Star Wars novels in bookstores, I always shied away from purchasing them because the Star Wars legacy is so large now that I felt I would be lost. But then I saw Death Troopers and was fascinated by its description on two fronts, 1) it had Storm Troopers in it, I have always loved Storm Troopers, they are my favorite evil army. 2) This book also has zombies, (some of which were former Storm Troopers, yeah!!) The premise is a little different for a Star Wars book, but it was still enjoyable. Schreiber brought his characters to life, and even in far fetched stories, if the reader empathizes with the characters, the story comes to life. Han Solo and Chewbacca make an appearance in this story as well, and the author worked well with them, I could totally envision Harrison Ford acting out the Solo role.

This book has freed me from my fear of delving into Star Wars stories. I will certainly visit the galaxy far, far away again. ( )

Originally posted on my review blog, Stomping on Yeti, at http://yetistomper.blogspot.com/2009/12/yetireview-death-troopers.html

21 Words or Less: A fast-paced and truly creepy novel, Death Troopers combines Star Wars and horror but fails to try for more.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

The Good: Fast-paced popcorn read; Visual, descriptive prose; delivers on promise of "Star Wars horror"

The Bad: Feels very safe; Zombies take a long time to actually appear; very short for a hardcover, Could have been excellent with a little more character back story or a more detailed plot

While not quite as overexposed as vampires, there is an undeniable zombie epidemic lurching its way through the genre. World War Z. Zombieland. The Walking Dead. Necropolis. Even Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. That being the case, it was no surprise when LucasBooks announced Death Troopers, a zombie/Star Wars mash-up written by up-and-coming horror writer, Joe Schreiber. Luckily for the galaxy far, far away being bitten the Zombie virus doesn't necessarily guarantee turning into a mindless, staggering, decomposing story. On the other hand, it doesn't preclude it either. Some works of zombie fiction are absolutely brilliant, others deserve to be shotgunned, burned, or otherwise lobotomized. It's all about the execution.

So does Joe Schreiber deliver? Yes and no. From the beginning, it's clear that Schreiber has a way with words. His prose style has a visual style that is pitch perfect for writing horror. Simply put, you see what he writes, even when you really, really don't want to. And when the zombie action ramps up aboard the derelict Star Destroyer, Schreiber writes some things you really, really don't want to see. So as our small cast of characters attempts to escape the rapidly deteriorating situation, you feel like you are next to them every step of the way. It is horror.

It's also Star Wars. Despite the lack of flesh eating undead in the original trilogy (or even the crappy prequels), Schreiber captures the feel of the universe, the dialogue, the descriptions very well, especially for a SW rookie. There are even a few cameo appearances along the way. I won't give them away but he writes them so well it’s as if they walked off the screen and into this book. Schreiber did his research and he integrated his story into the greater galaxy. So when Death Troopers is described as Star Wars Horror, it's a fair assessment. Unfortunately, it feels like it could have been more.

One of the largest problems with this book is its length. It's a hardcover novel for a hardcover price but only contains 232 pages of actual story; a length which simply doesn't allow for deep characters, a well-crafted plot, and the intricate prose needed in a quality horror novel. While Schreiber does a spectacular job turning a sterile Star Destroyer into a terrifying set of corridors and caverns, the plot and the characters disappoint. They aren't bad by any means, they just need more attention. There is no reason why the book needs to be that short. Schreiber could easily have maintained the visceral prose that is the book's main strength AND detailed a cast of three dimensional characters uncovering an insidious plot concocted by the Empire's most brilliant and nefarious minds. He could have done it and kept it under 300 pages. There are hints of a larger story and characterization but those hints were never fully realized.

As a result, Death Troopers commits one of the most basic (and admittedly hard to avoid) sins of the zombie subgenre: the cold open. Instead of hitting the ground running, we first bear witness to the death of the majority of the ship's passengers and then their disappearance. There is no mystery here. It's zombies. Like almost any other zombie book or movie, the audience is firmly aware of what they are getting into when they jump on board. So when Schreiber takes his time getting to the fun stuff the book suffers.

Without ample characterization or mysterious plot elements, there is no connection between the reader and the potential victims fleeing the zombie horde. Without that bond, even the most frenetically paced story will fail to excite. Schreiber allows us to gradually become invested in Kale and Trig Longo, political prisoners aboard the ill-fated Purge, and Zahara Cody, the ship's chief medical officer but they don't really develop like they could have, especially considering some of the surprising decisions they face. This is very apparent when considering how "right" the cameos feel when contrasted with the underdeveloped main cast.

All in all, Death Troopers is a decent Star Wars story and a decent Zombie novel. The prose is dripping with suspense and Schreiber masterfully paints an unsettling story with the blood of Stormtroopers and Wookies alike. The book is good but it could have been so much more, given more pages and more development, both of plot and of character. While the novel succeeds at being creepy (and at times profoundly disturbing), Schreiber appears to have said "good enough" rather than turning off his targeting computer and trusting the force. While he's survived the battle, if he had ramped up the action little faster, developed his original characters a little deeper, and detailed the underlying cause of the epidemic a little bit more, he might have been just blown the reactor core. ( )

A nice concept. Star Wars & Zombies. Zombies are definitely in vogue (hopefully to knockoff vampires soon!). One thing I really liked about the book was the quick jump into action. Not a lot of dawdling. However, the book seem suited to more YA. Like it was trying to be scary, but it really wasn't. Otherwise, a nice side-story in the SW lexicon. Oh, and I loved the surprise characters. ( )

The old adage says you should never judge a book by its cover.

Maybe we should update it to say that we should never judge a book by its cover or its Internet marketing campaign.

Images of the cover for this "Star Wars" book began to slip out months ago along with the tease of stormtroopers plus zombies. Based on that alone, the novel had to be worth reading, right?

Yes and no.

As a standalone novel in the "Star Wars" universe, the books is an enjoyable enough story as author Joe Schreiber introduces us to a bunch of character who are to set to be potential zombie fodder early in the story.

The story has a nice sense of atmosphere to it. A prison ship breaks down with a full compliment of prisoners and is forced to dock with an abandoned star destroyer for help and to try and find parts. Hope turns to fear as a mysterious disease comes back on board, wiping out most of the crew and prisoners apart from a handful of survivors with immunity to the disease. Then, the dead start rising and become zombies, leading to lots of chasing and running.

The problem with "Death Troopers" is that there's a twist mid-way through that completely took me out of the story and had me rolling my eyes. And the book never recovered from that moment. In fact, a large chunk of the second half of the book depends on this twist, making it virtually impossible to escape it or maybe pretend it didn't happen and get back to some zombie stormtrooper mayhem. ( )

When an abandoned Star Destroyer is found, most of the search party rapidly gets sick and dies, but they don't stay dead, and the survivors quickly find that perhaps the ship isn't as empty as they thought. If this sounds like the set up to a cheap B-movie, then you know exactly what you are in for. Weak story-telling is the hallmark, with many "oh my gosh!" cliffhangers and completely unbelievable happenings. It seems at the beginning of this book that there won't even be any familiar or even expanded universe characters, but about a third of the way in we learn that two of the surviving prisoners are faces we know. At least it is explained in this book why the zombies don't attack and eat each other, a commonly unanswered question in these types of stories. However, the climax of the book is completely unexciting, and would have happened without any intervention by the survivors anyway. A poor entry that has no impact on the overall Star Wars universe. ( )

The zombie craze comes to the Star Wars universe.

This book was interesting, if nothing else. The horror aspect, as well as the descriptions of gore and carnage, certainly takes Star Wars to a place it's never been before. It gave it a grittier feel, which I rather liked. I feel like the characters were a little flat, but hey, that's probably not what you're picking this book up for, am I right?

I thought the book was suitably creepy. Reanimated corpses are good for that much, at least, and the fact that the main characters knew some of the corpses in question really played on that. Add in the setting of a mostly deserted Star Destroyer, huge and yet claustrophobic at the same time, covered in bloodstains and full of nooks and crannies for zombies to hide, and Schreiber really has something working.

The only thing I really didn't like was the inclusion of two very well known characters from the Star Wars universe as main characters. In general, I'm sure the novels that contain the core characters are better received than those that don't; in this case, however, I felt like it really took something away from the story. You know these two are going to survive, and that drained most of the tension from any scenes they were in. I have to believe that horror is most effective when you don't know if the characters are going to have their brains gobbled out or not.

The rest of the crew was up for grabs, though, and I'm glad that not all of them made it through. Each time one of them met an end, it raised the stakes for everyone else, really kicked it up a notch. Overall, this was pretty cool. I'll have to pick up something else by Mr. Schreiber to see how well he handles mainstream horror (if there is such a thing). ( )