Order 66 (Star Wars: Republic Commando, Book 4)

Karen Travvis delivers another great book. I have been a fan of this series since I picked up the first book. She delivers a lot more drama and danger in this one.

With Order 66 on the horizon, the Jedi are on the brink of falling. However there are still those among the Clones who aren't so swayed by the order. These men are even willing to put their lives on the line for those Jedi that they have come to call part of their dysfunction little family. There may be bad blood between Mandalorians and Jedi, but sometimes they can still see eye to eye. This story is filled with emotion as some of the characters that we have been enjoying have to face some of the hardest choices that they have ever had to make. Who lives, who dies; read this book and find out.

I loved the prequels, I dislike the killing of a central character it was very important in the history and I suffer with all the other characters and I dislike the end; it's very incomplete.

I am a big fan of the Star Wars novels, having read the Darth Bane series as well as "Death Star" and "Allegiance". Unfortunately, "Order 66" fails to live up to the standards set by these earlier novels.

The story itself takes place shortly before Chancellor Palpatine gave the infamous "Order 66"; the Jedi have tried to stage a coup and have now made themselves enemies of the Republic. A Mandalorian sergeant was hired to personally train some of the clone commandos that were created on Kamino. But, this sergeant soon realizes that clones are being treated terribly just because they are clones. The sergeant has developed a strong bond with his adopted clone sons, and he wishes them to have normal lives. He has also been attempting to figure out how to extend the clones' life spans. As it is, clones age twice as fast as humans. The only hope for the clones is to disappear when no one suspects it in order to live their lives freely and not just servants of the Republic with no say in how their futures will pan out.

I was disappointed with this book, and I can't recommend it. I had a very hard time actually getting into the story. I felt the writing was ambiguous and very difficult to follow. The constant clone lingo interspersed throughout the book made the reading that much more difficult.

I really wanted to like this book when I started, but unfortunately, I never did. I had to "plow" my way through just to finish it. I hope the future "Star Wars" novels turn out to be more enjoyable than this one was.

I look forward to buying and reading every SW novel by the wonderful Karen Traviss. Her novels are like a potato chip, you can't be satisfied with just one. She really understands the SW universe and adds a depth and dimension to the characters that inhabit it like no other. Order 66 picks up after the previous events chronicled in the Republic commando series (Hard Contact, Triple Zero, and True Colors). Part of her writing style is to open every chapter with a quote and attributes to the quote that tie into events. I really like those blips of insight. My favorite from this novel opens chapter 3. A very deep and profound thought that could easily be applied to contemporary life.

We're back with Skirata and his 'boys'. We kick off with Jusik, the ex jedi, now madalorian and his inner thoughts on how he's changed since the war started. We also are introduced to the beginnings of Skirata's life as a mandalorian. Fi is on Mandalore, recuperating from the injuries incurred at the end of the last novel. Etain is still leading her men on the front lines, fretting about telling Darman about their son, Kad.

Besany gets a friend and coworker Jilka captured and they have to bust her out before she's terminated. Another innocent csualty of war. Skirata, Jusik and Fi and Ordo go to extract Dr. Uthan, the geneticist, from prison and also discover Arla Fett as a bonus. I can't wait to see where that story line leads.

As the story progress, the events from Revenge of the Sith are intertwined into our characters lives. She also intertwines the events of the video game Republic Commando into the events taking place on Kashyyyk. I was fascinated to see the same events unfold through different vantage points. This was my favorite element of the novel. Because there is never just one way to look at something. I enjoyed the ambiguity injected into the stark right and wrong of events and its effect on citizens and soldiers, alike. The addition of Besany and Laseema are nice to add another dimensionality to the female perspective, and not just Etains point of view as a jedi general.

In a sad moment of irony Etain is cut down by a jedi and Dar losses it. War isn't pretty and doesn't have perfect happy endings, so I'm glad to see the cost of war depicted in such a raw manner.

I eagerly await the next addition to the commando series.

To get a glimpse of the future of some of the characters, read the three Legacy of the Force series by Karen Traviss.

Several years ago first-time Star Wars author Karen Traviss was tapped to pen a spinoff novel based on the videogame Republic Commando. Although there are an increasing number of games available featuring significantly strong storylines (Knights of the Old Republic comes to mind), Republic Commando was a fairly straightforward first-person shooter: a lot of fun to play, but not necessarily a deep source for a quality book. Defying my expectations, Traviss produced a gripping and distinctive tale with her book Hard Contact. By not adhering to the storyline of the game, she gave herself room to develop a compelling set of new characters, breathing life into the concept of clone soldiers.

Reactions to the first book, despite some fan concerns about its pro-Mandalorian, anti-Jedi overtones, were quite positive, and the sequel Triple Zero appeared not long thereafter. Triple Zero took its time in developing a richly detailed ensemble cast of mercenaries, soldiers, and disillusioned Jedi, and it became clear that Traviss was laying foundations for a bigger story. It turned out there were two more books coming, a third paperback named True Colors and the hardcover series finale, succinctly titled Order 66.

My anticipation for this climactic fourth novel was extremely high and overall I was not disappointed. As expected, Traviss takes all of the disparate threads and characters she has been developing and weaves together an action-packed portrait of the chaos surrounding Order 66 itself and the rise of the fledgling Empire. One element I did not expect is how much time is spent months earlier in the first half of the book. This makes sense, though: the war was three years long and there was a significant gap of roughly a year between the end of True Colors and Order 66.

I confess a bit of surprise on my part regarding the climactic events of Order 66. I had a picture in my head of the decisions Omega and Delta squads would be forced to make regarding their Jedi allies (primarily Etain Tur-Mukan and Bardan Jusik) but the actual story was quite different. I'm not going to spoil anything specific here, but I will say events weren't nearly as conclusive as I pictured, with the exception of one particular character's death (a very moving one). It has recently turned out that Traviss will be penning a sequel series, the aptly dubbed Imperial Commando, which sheds new light on her choice here to leave questions unanswered and even some new storylines barely addressed (such as the intriguing introduction of Callista, a Jedi character some readers may be familiar with from the Bantam novel era).

The viewpoint of this novel, much like the prior three but more amplified, has a very Mandalorian slant to it. The dialogue is liberally sprinkled with Mando terms, and the mercenaries are placed in heroic roles, those of noble warriors looking after their families and loved ones while doing what they "have to do" for a living. While I disagree with the vilification of the Jedi the book veers toward, I greatly appreciate the different point of view Traviss explores. Not everyone in the Star Wars galaxy should feel the same about things, and just looking briefly at any political discussion today ably depicts how completely differently people can view a particular subject or person. I've never seen clones the same way after reading this series, and it's interesting to examine the cues the new Clone Wars cartoon has picked up in humanizing the troops.

I'm reluctant to delve any further into the plot of this one. If you've read the first three books and enjoyed them, you'll certainly want to read this one, and if you haven't and you are interested, start with Hard Contact and see what you think. I highly recommend all four of these books for the fresh viewpoints and strong characterizations they present, and I look forward to reading Imperial Commando: 501st next.