Star Wars: Tarkin

I've always thought of Grand Moff Tarkin was one of the underappreciated villains of the Star Wars saga. He was a powerful commander close to the Emperor, called Darth Vader an "old friend," and did not hesitate to destroy the planet Alderaan. And yet, for all his power, he survives no further in the original trilogy than the Rebel assault on the first Death Star, dying when a young, inexperienced pilot named Luke Skywalker blows up the space station. If Vader's management style was brute force, Tarkin's was manipulation and fear.

"Fear will keep the local systems in line," he told his gathered commanders aboard the Death Star on news that the Senate had been disbanded. "Fear of this battle station."

And so, with fear as his theme, James show more Luceno's Tarkin builds a life for Wilhuff Tarkin, creating a character, not from whole cloth, but from the hints and clues George Lucas left in A New Hope as to who Grand Moff Tarkin might be if he had had a more full biography. Born the son of a powerful family, he is raised and trained to build their honor. He shows an aptitude for clever and strategic planning, developed over years of training in the wilds of his home planet. He becomes a loyal soldier of the Republic, an ally of the Jedi, and yet, easily makes the transition to the Empire.

Luceno's Tarkin is a fun, quick read. Not too deep, but not shallow, either. But then, he doesn't have much to go on. With what he does have, Luceno carves out a cold, but sympathetic, Grand Moff Tarkin. show less

I admit to being a serious Star Wars fanboy, and I have read a ton of the books that have gone along with the Extended Universe and I always want them to be good. I root for them. Unfortunately I can't say that Star Wars: Tarkin is a good book.
Part of this is not the author's fault. SW:T is saddled with two handicaps before it even gets out of the gate. The first one is the same one that afflicts the movie prequels: there is little real dramatic tension when you know the protagonists' futures going in. We know that Tarkin is successful, we know he keeps the Emperor's favor and becomes commander of the Death Star. We know the exact moment and cause of his death. So basically we know how it's going to end, the only question being how he show more is going to solve this problem on his way to greatness. The second handicap is one maybe more people will disagree with me about. I think that it is very difficult to write a story where the protagonist is a villain. There is a narrow space between treating such a protagonist with too much or too little sympathy. How can someone who has seen Star Wars root for Tarkin? How can they root against his antagonists? This is not a question of an anti-hero, Tarkin is a villain, he's not a tortured soul who does wrong things for the right reasons. Luceno unfortunately did not really solve this dilemma in any way.
On to specifics about the book and yes there will be some spoilers. There is far too much exposition at the expense of plot. We hear about Tarkin's youth from the perspective of his adulthood. We hear about his past meetings with the Emperor/Senator Palpatine. We hear about all of this without any immediacy or any drama, even his 'trials' on his home planet of Eriadu. The end result is to drag at the pacing of the storyline set in the present.
What's worse is that I couldn't buy what Luceno did with his main character. Tarkin is an iconic villain in the Star Wars Universe. But he's a cold-blooded, strategic thinking intellectual villain. You never get the impression that he would slice you open to watch your giblets spill out, or cut loose with a maniacal laugh. That's what he has Vader for in the movie. Vader is very much Tarkin's blunt instrument, the physical manifestation of the Grand Moff's chilly menace. So why in the world does Luceno turn him into a blood-drinking savage, a hunter who eats the warm raw liver he's pulled out of his kill? It's ridiculous. He's not that kind of villain. The upper crust families (including Tarkin's) from a planet out in the sticks of the galaxy are resentful of those from the Core because those sophisticates look down their noses at their Outer Rim country cousins, and the solution is to behave like a primitive warrior society? It doesn't ring true and I found myself rolling my eyes frequently throughout the narrative. It didn't ring true to have Tarkin suit up and fly a starfighter in a space battle. Again, not that kind of guy. The crucible that formed Tarkin's persona would be much more believable if it had been of a more intellectual bent.
Finally, most of the first chapter and part of the last dealt with uniform fitting and selection. Seriously. show less

Star Wars: Tarkin is a confident book that is written by a confident author. It is filled with the intrigue, action, and fascinating characterization that we've come to expect from a Luceno Star Wars book. In my opinion, Luceno is one of the best authors of Star Wars fiction writing today (alongside of Timothy Zahn and Claudia Gray). He is also very proficient at describing the technology world of the star wars universe without bogging the reader down.

The story takes place five years after the end of the Clone Wars. Emperor Palpatine is using his influence and the dark side of the Force to manipulate the galaxy and change the landscape. Moff Tarkin is in the Outer Rim overseeing the construction of the Death Star, and Darth Vader is show more doing whatever the Emperor wants. In this case, the Emperor wants Vader and Tarkin to work together to investigate what appears to be an act of insurrection. Mystery ensues.

As the plot unfolds, so does Tarkin’s past. We learn about his family, his home on the planet Eriadu, a little about his time in the Clone Wars, and most importantly, we see his family’s peculiar rites of passage. Those experiences – which are essentially an intense game of Survivor that pits Tarkin against wild creatures and nature – are what ultimately shape Tarkin into the man we meet in Episode IV. They taught Tarkin the value of ruling with fear, and it’s a theme that runs throughout the book. The Empire’s governing techniques are rooted in intimidation. I mean they're building a Death Star to rule with terror.

And this is more or less the plot of the book. I found it interesting to read about the insurgency (one of those many flickers of hope throughout the galaxy). It gives you insight (the way Enfys Nest did in Solo) into all the different freedom fighters that exist in the galaxy before the rebellion really gets organized.

Anyway, as fascinating as freedom fighters are, this is Tarkin's story and a captivating one at that. You really see how he learned to be such a tactical and cunning leader. I found the ending to be completely satisfying and his characterization dazzling. Kuddos to Luceno for writing another great Star Wars entry. show less

Tarkin ranks, for me, as one of the worst Star Wars novels written. It just was not very exciting. I usually read through SW novels very quickly; this one took me much longer.
I feel what may have been the biggest problem is that Luceno started off writing one story and was then told that he had to include another one. The story starts off with very little happening in the “present,” 14 years before the battle of Yavin (BBY)/ 5 years after Revenge of the Sith, with most of what’s happening being flashbacks to Tarkin’s youth. Which kind of goes all over the place, from an austere, wealthy upbringing shot through with time spent surviving in a primal nature preserve owned by his family, to time spent in military school, fighting show more pirates, to a little bit of political involvement.
Then, his ship, a custom built, advanced corvette, gets stolen out from under him and Darth Vader, and the story suddenly shifts, quickly introducing a whole new, throw away cast of rebels, who seem to have an insider somewhere in Emperor Palpatine’s inner circle feeding them instructions and information. The rest of the story is this group of rebels doing minor raids on minor Imperial targets while two very high ranking individuals, Darth Vader and Moff Tarkin, rather ineptly attempt to catch them. To add to the incredulity, the whole Imperial navy goes through a complete reorganization across the galaxy just because one powerful, stealthy corvette attacked one military depot. That depot is even far away from the Core, and the first sentence of the book is about how the further you are from the Core, the less important you are!
There are a large amount of references to other Star Wars properties; some major ones to the Clone Wars tv show and some minor ones to older novels. Most of these felt thrown in and unresolved, almost as if Luceno was trying his best to fit things from the Clone Wars tv show and the Prequel movies in with the now “non-canon” Expanded Universe books.
I ended up very disappointed in the book. I have really liked some of Luceno’s other Star Wars novels, but this one was a complete drag, full of stuff I was never compelled to care about. Darth Vader often felt very out of character; he talked way too much! Takin’s background was uninspiring, the main “protagonists” of the book are abruptly introduced halfway through the book and have very little impact on anything in the larger Star Wars universe, and we get a really tiny look into the construction of the Death Star. show less

“Star Wars: Tarkin” – Fear Keeps Them in Line
Like some other recent Star Wars releases from Del Rey, I did not get what I expected from this novel. The hype I’d heard leading up to this release was basically – “Wilhuff Tarkin gets the Darth Plagueis treatment.” I assumed this was more than simply because they had the same author. I was braced for a decades-spanning biographic narrative - similar to Plagueis & Sidious - telling Tarkin’s story from his backwater birth to his meteoric rise within a fledgling Galactic Empire. I did not get that. And, in truth, I got something far better. Wilhuff Tarkin has made enough appearances (in and out of Canon) in the past that there are just too many things to fit in and too many show more things to exclude. Luceno takes an excellent approach and tells a very narrow tale that spans only a week or two in the span of galactic history. Through that tale, though, he has woven smartly-placed flashbacks showing us Tarkin’s most formative years as an early teen and young adult. He doesn’t spend unnecessary pages on this – just enough to give you an idea, and then it’s back to the story. I found this approach to be very effective and enjoyable.

This particular story shows us the mind of Tarkin in sharp detail – his cunning, his analytical process, and his ruthless pursuit of order. Much like in Darth Plagueis, the reader simply can’t help but root for the bad guys. The plight of the “dissidents” in this story doesn’t particularly engender any sympathy in the reader as we might expect. I found myself actually wanting Tarkin and Vader to squash these guys like bugs. Speaking of Vader, he plays a supporting role in this story but an important one. Like in “Lords of the Sith,” we see hints of the humanity that still lurks inside that helmet and armor – not to be confused with sympathy or empathy, but at least the raw emotion that fuels him. There is recognition of his past experiences before the epic duel on Mustafar that claimed his former identity. Make no mistake, this is NOT Anakin Skywalker, but you can see that he once was Anakin, and his memories are carefully dealt with by Luceno. I found some of my favorite moments to be the personal discussions between he and Tarkin – two unlikely partners in the shaping of galactic events. One would never mistake them for friends, but this novel does an excellent job of painting their relationship as one of mutual (if grudging) respect – perhaps even admiration. Ultimately they both want to serve the Emperor, the Empire, and (perhaps most crucially for Tarkin) the establishment of order.

This book was a quick read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The characters were accurately portrayed and my brain couldn’t help but play out the dialogue in my head in the voices of James Earl Jones and Peter Cushing. The Emperor appears slightly more fallible here than we saw him in “Lords of the Sith” but a powerful presence none-the-less. The would-be rebels in the tale are largely forgettable (as perhaps was intended) but the ending leaves open the possibility of at least one of them appearing again – perhaps in the “Rebels” series? Time will tell. show less

Taking on one of the most intriguing characters in the Star Wars universe, James Luceno does an admirable job fleshing out the persona of Wilhuff Tarkin. Played perfectly by Peter Cushing in 1977, Tarkin has always been an enigma. How did this man become the commander of the Death Star and an equal to, or sometimes seemingly a superior of, Darth Vader himself? Luceno weaves a story filled with action surrounding a joint Tarkin-Vader mission for the Emperor and flashbacks to Tarkin's childhood and adolescence.

Set five years after the events in Revenge of the Sith, we are treated to a triple threat here: the growth of Tarkin into the man we see in Star Wars: A New Hope, the continued development of Darth Vader as he grows in the Dark show more Side, and the seeds of the Rebellion that will reach its pinnacle 15 years into the future.

The action opens on the mysterious Sentinel Base where the newly promoted Moff Tarkin is overseeing a project of epic proportion for the Emperor. The base is attacked by remnants of the Separatist Movement from the Clone Wars. While he is able to deflect the ambush, Tarkin is recalled to Coruscant where he faces the Emperor and is tasked to lead a joint mission with Darth Vader to root out the Separatists and eliminate them completely. While on this mission, the Moff's cruiser, Carrion Spike, is hijacked and after being used by the Separatists to attack Imperial installations it is up to Tarkin and Vader to track the ship down before more damage can be done, all the while unraveling plots and conspiracies over two years in the making.

To say I had high hopes and expectations for thie book would be an understatement As a life long Star Wars fan, I have always been intrigued by Grand Moff Tarkin ever since seeing him on the big screen. What made this ruthless Imperial tick? How did he get to such a prominent position in the Imperial pantheon, especially command of the Death Star? When I saw that James Luceno was taking the reins and fleshing out this story, I was even more excited, and was not let down!

Tarkin reads more like an espionage thriller and psychological case study than a science fiction adventure, as with most other Star Wars Expanded Universe novels. The pacing was deliberate and methodical, giving you a true sense not only of the way in which the main investigation in the story is handled, but also a look at the personality of Tarkin himself. Luceno never lacks on the details, but the story does not get bogged down in them either. By weaving in stories of Tarkin's childhood and adolescence, as well as the trials he endured to shape him, we are treated to a wonderful character study that slowly reveals more complexity and layers to Wilhuff Tarkin than you would ever imagine existed. Couple that with the asides and glimpses into characters such as Vader and the Emperor while interacting with Tarkin, and the entire triumvirate truly comes alive.

There are some points where the action seems to drag, but, much like Tarkin himself, the story is well metered, calculated, and focused on its desired end. Readers looking for lots of action will be disappointed, but hopefully not for long as they get to know and understand the personality of one of the most calculating and fearless leaders of the Galactic Empire.

Many thanks to LucasBooks, NetGalley, and James Luceno for the opportunity to read and review Tarkin early in exchange for an honest review. The final version will be released on November 4, 2014.

Four out of five stars. show less

It was a bit daunting to read a Star Wars book since it had been years since I read one and even though I still love Star Wars I just don’t watch the movie that often nowadays as I did when I was younger. Also, this book is about Tarkin, a character I never really cared about in the movie. But Darth Vader was on the cover also so that made this book seem a bit interesting to read.

But, I must say I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed reading the book. It's a really, really good. Yes, it had some part that was a bit tough to get through, space fighting isn’t my favorite reading material, I prefer watching it on the telly. On the plus side, it was well-written, not too much and it was necessary for the story.

In this book we show more get the background story to Moff Tarkin, his childhood on Eriadu, his career to present time in the book when he is in charge of building the Death Star. But he must hunt, together with Darth Vader, down dissidents hell-bent on causing trouble for the Empire when a mission goes wrong and his ship Carrion Spike gets stolen.

As I said before this book was good so good in fact that I realized that I was rooting for Tarkin to win over the dissidents that he was chasing. I mean I know I had a weakness for Darth Vader since I was a child, but Tarkin? That felt odd. Now I’m not saying that he is good, he is not a misunderstood character. He is a firm believer in the Empire and he has done awful things. But James Luceno has written a so good portrait of Tarkin that you can see how he became the man he was when we for the first time met him on the Death Star.

If you are a fan of Star Wars then you should read this book.

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review! show less