My preconceptions before reading:

Going against it was the variable quality of the Star wars EU and the fact that it's a book tie in to a videogame.

Going for it was that the clones were probably the most interesting concept in the prequels. I was interested to see someone pick up the ball and actually explore the idea of an army cloned off of one man.

Well, it turned out to maybe be my favorite EU material yet.

----

The story takes place shortly after the battle of Geonosis. A squad consisting of four Republic commandos is dispatched to the planet Qiilura to destroy an imperial research base and to kidnap the imperial head of research.

Republic commandos are better trained, differently equipped and just plain tougher than regular troops. They work in a group of four soldiers who have trained together practically since birth.

The squad of commandos in this book have never worked with each other before. Each fought at Geonosis and each is the sole survivor of the squad to which they previously belonged.

Pros:

Karen Traviss is a former member of the British military, as well as a military journalist. She knows how to write about soldiers and their mentality. She knows how to make things sound realistic and seems to have a special appreciation for explosive ordinances.

He characters, for the most part, are strongly written and very interesting. She creates a rather intimate story of five people trying to figure each other out in life and death situations.

Most importantly she really dives into the concept of the book. Her exploration of the nuts and bolts of what it would be like to be a clone soldier is exceptional. She takes a very out there idea and humanizes it. Through conversations and recollections we get an idea of what it’s like knowing you were created to die, knowing your growth is accelerated and your lifespan short eve if you don’t die in war.

It’s a very ground level view of the cloned commandos, which I found fascinating. She takes a look at it from almost every angle, from the emotional repercussions of being a clone, to the practical matters of operating as in an army full of them.

To put it simply, you get to know what it would be like to be behind that mask.


Cons:

Too often, especially near the end, Traviss is too explicit with the emotions of her characters. She doesn't seem to have faith in her ability to let us figure out the emotional result of the situations the characters find them self in. It's not too bad, but it still irks a bit.

She also wasn't so great at describing certain things. If you didn't know what Mandalorian armor looked like or what weequay's look like, for instance, you'll probably have to google them to find out. I had to google a couple alien races to remember what they looked like.

At least a couple of times she used terms that just don't fit into the Star Wars universe. But only a couple of times and nothing as bad as referencing hot chocolate.

This is kind of a con, two characters types that seem played to death. The female Jedi padawan who recently lost their master and who doesn't think she is Jedi material. It seems like I've read that character a thousand times before. To Karen Traviss's credit though, the character is developed and used well. It's the commando's first real face time with a Jedi, whom they are trained into believing are close to god like in their abilities. Traviss uses the relationship to explore positions of authority on the battlefront and it works much better than I expected.

The second played to death character is yet another Mandalorian agent for hire. Again, Traviss ends up using him pretty well as an actual character. Separated from the core planets and only getting trickles of information he overhears or is told by the separatists, he is aghast to find out that the republic has used Jango Fett's DNA to create abominations.

Another character is a little more problematic, a shape shifter. Too often shape shifters are used to plug holes in stories and to get something done the other characters can't do (or the writer isn't imaginative to figure out the other way). I'm not sure that Traviss ever overcomes this. The character is enjoyable enough, but is used a few times solely to solve a story hurdle (imo).


OVERALL: BUY IT

Republic Commando is well written and very enjoyable. I'm a sucker for the band of brother's working together under the stress of war type of thing.

Whatever cons I list above are far, far outweighed by her treatment of the central conceit. Her exploration of what a cloned soldier would be like and what an army composed of them would be like, is exceptional. She takes it from a nifty idea to something that is truly worth reading about. In the end, the clone army and the soldiers who make it up serve as an accelerated mix of Spartans and the modern soldier. She uses the concept to explore from another angle what soldiers have always had to face.

She uses a small story. This isn't galaxy spanning or even planet spanning stuff here, but it's a good thing. Traviss is less concerned with making an "impact" on the Star Wars universe than she is in telling a good story and fleshing out certain aspects of the ideas created in Star Wars.

This is how it should be, I think. EU writer's (and editors) (and readers) need to be less concerned with new big event stories that try to capture whatever it is they felt when they were a kid and watched Star Wars for the first time. It's not ever going to happen. Your not going to feel that way again. By trying to do so, you risk diminishing the original product that caused that feeling (Death Star doesn't seem like such a big deal now compared to Sun Crushers and CenterPoint Stations, etc.).