Death Star: Beach Ball of Death

Here’s another quick beach read, Star Wars: Death Star, by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry. While this wasn't the best Star Wars novel I had ever read, it did spark a conversation among my friends about the engineering and technological challenges to building a Death Star in real life.

Star Wars: Death Star tells the story of the original Death Star, mostly from the perspective of the soldiers and employees aboard the massive space station. (I can't help but wonder if the authors were influenced by that scene in Clerks) There are a whole bunch of characters such as, a Tie fighter pilot, a storm trooper, a gunner in command of the Death Star's super laser, some cantina workers, and a station design engineer. Unfortunately there were too many for me to keep track of and most of them I just didn't care about. (Nova, a storm trooper with a conscience, was the only exception.)

This book was pretty average to me. Nothing special,but not complete garbage either. While reading it, I felt like I was reading the script for some deleted scenes in A New Hope. However, it did serve its purpose for me as a beach read. It fit in well between swimming and arguing over which Jedi is the "best".

If you're a diehard Star Wars fan then you should read Death Star. Others should skip it. I'm just glad to know how that thermal exhaust port was left unshielded!

Stop by the library and pick up a copy.

Thanks for reading. Leave questions and comments below.

-Adam Delaura