Monday, September 28, 2009

Star Wars Death Troopers-Joe Schreiber

Star Wars Death Troopers
Joe Schreiber
Del Rey, Oct 13 2009, $24.00
ISBN: 9780345509628

The Imperial prison barge Purge is in a remote sector transporting five hundred of the most ruthless criminals ever known to their new home when the vessel breaks down. Nearby is a drifting Star Destroyer. The crew goes on board hoping to salvage parts needed to repair the thrusters on the Purge.

Not all return from the derelict ship, but those who manage to return are very sick bringing back a host of nasty symptoms that rapidly spread throughout the Purge even in the maximum confinement cells isolated from everyone and everything. The ship’s chief medical officer Dr. Zahara Cody tries but fails to contain the disease. In incredibly short order, what was once thousands of people on board had dwindled to six survivors. Cody, Captain of the Guard Sartoris, the teenage Longo sibling prisoners completing their father’s prison sentence because he died during a torture interrogation and two other inmates held in the utmost maximum confinement cell. This six are not allies as Cody and the siblings have an axe to grind with Sartoris while the other two have been kept away from people for either lethal or political reasons. The living sextet better unite because the dead crew and prisoners have reanimated and are coming for fresh meat.

Zombies in Star War space seems out of place yet it works as an entertaining thriller with connections to the original film trilogy. The story line is fast-paced and filled with tons of action even before the dead come back to life. Unique and refreshing in terms of Star Wars (zombies have become an “overkilled” species lately), fans will enjoy Joe Schreiber’s horror science fiction thriller.

Harriet Klausner

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