Within mere hours
it will be September 1st, or as it's known in retail
stores, Force Friday II, the Star Wars focused product
onslaught meant to dupe poor nerds like yours truly out of their
valuable cash with toys, books, games, and the like. Not that I'm one
to fall for such empty consumerism...though there is a new starter
set for the Destiny game...and a new Claudia Gray novel. Shit,
they got me! With a whole new wave of Star Wars goodies on the
horizon along with the start of the four best months of the year, I
thought it best for us to take a look at yet another expanded
universe novel.
In all fairness
it's been a little longer than usual since my last review, mainly
because after going through so many books and seasons of The Clone
Wars, I needed a small break from the franchise. I promised
myself that upon my return I'd check out one of the books I was most
interested in. The novel in questions is Catalyst by James
Luceno who previously gave us Tarkin. Catalyst is a
prequel to Rogue One that aims to better explain the history
and relationships of the elder characters from said movie along with
their roles in creating the Death Star. I was so eager to plumb the
greater depths of these figures, what I got is something else
entirely.
There's a scene in
Rogue One, where Jyn recalls a night in her childhood when
Krennic was visiting her parents and she wakes up, only to be
escorted back to bed by her father. In this part, her parents and the
future villain seem to be having a good time, a far different vibe
than when he finds them in hiding years later only to kill Jyn's
mother and take her father. That disparity hinted at a deeper
emotional story that sadly isn't present within these pages. We're
gonna have to tackle this one piece at a time.
Having read the
over three-hundred pages that make up Catalyst, I hardly know
anything more about Galen Erso than what was presented to me in the
film. He's an incredibly intelligent man with strong morals who loves
his family. His wife, Lyra on other hand I've now learned too much
about. She's such an irritating goody-two-shoes it's downright
sickening. She's smart, strong, one with nature, has high morals, is
a good mother, physically fit, the woman practically shits gold
bricks.
On the flip side I
almost feel as if I understand Orson Krennic even less. Having him be
underdeveloped in the movie was something of a given, I mean it was
servicing a huge cast with just over two hours of story. Any
potential for added depth here is thrown out the window as he's
played up as a cartoonish, power hungry, ghoul. That scene of the
three adult enjoying each-others company can't happen in this book as
Lyra practically pulls out her cross and stake every time Orson comes
around.
As for that other
elder character begging for greater development, Saw Gerrera doesn't
even show up until the last quarter of the book, and doesn't meet
Galen and Lyra until the last 15 pages or so. Instead we get large
chunks devoted to a smuggler named Has Obitt whom Jyn names one of
her dolls after.
Tarkin makes his
presence felt here as well, which should be a saving grace given how
nicely Luceno portrayed him in his previous novel. Like Krennic,
Tarkin has also taken a significant downgrade in depth for this
outing. Even some of his dialogue seems uncharacteristic which makes
no sense when Luceno's last crack at the villain was nearly flawless.
You might be
wondering then, if these relationships aren't properly developed,
just what exactly is going on in this book? Think of this as a sloppy
road map of how the empire took on the massive undertaking of
developing the Death Star, from gathering a work force, to securing
supplies by stripping planets of natural resources. Many of these
elements serve as tangents. For instance the subplot about the alien
workforce constructing the station sorta fades away. There's an
entire portion in the final quarter that deals with Tarkin waging war
on a defiant solar system. This is meant to serve as something of
forming event for the eventual rebellion but it could have been it's
own separate story rather than be forced into this one.
There are some
interesting bit pertaining to kyber crystals, hints that these stones
may have something of their own will or an ability to influence
people. The notion that being in close proximity to kyber crystals
makes it difficult for normal people to sleep is very strange as
that's clearly not an issue the Jedi faced. Of course there are no
concrete answers to the mysteries these stone possess, perhaps that's
something being built up for another story somewhere down the line.
I really can't
stress enough how much of a disappointment Catalyst turned out
to be. What could have been a neat mixture of character drama and
espionage ended up as a dull collection of awkward interactions and
go-nowhere plot threads. The structure of the writing, grammar, all
of that is solid but it's a dull read, far below the standard set by
the author's previous work. Let's put this one on the leaderboards.
1. Lost Stars by
Claudia Gray
2. New Dawn by
John Jackson Miller
3. Bloodline by
Claudia Gray
4. Guardians of
the Whills by Greg Rucka
5.
Ashoka by E.K.
Johnston
6. Tarkin by
James Luceno
7. Thrawn by
Timothy Zahn
8. Battlefont
Twilight Company by Alexander Freed
9. Moving Target
by Cecil Castelluci and Jason Fry
10. Before the
Awakening by Greg Rucka
11. Catalyst
by James Luceno
12. Smuggler's
Run by Greg Rucka
13. Heir to the
Jedi by Kevin Hearne
14. Lords of the
Sith by Paul S. Kemp
15. Aftermath by
Chuck Wendig
16.The Weapon of
a Jedi by Jason Fry
And with that I
now declare Summer officially over! Yes, I know there's technically
still a few weeks left but you'd be hard pressed to convince me of
that considering the current weather, let alone the decorative
Halloween village above the cupboards. Every year I try to make both
September and October on this site all about the wonders of the
Halloween season, and for once I think there's actually enough
content on hand to accomplish it. Look forward to some new unboxings,
movie reviews, candy hauls, spooky crafts, you name it. We're finally
at the last and best third of the year, it's gonna be great. Have a
solid labor day, everybody.
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