Star Wars: Death Troopers by Joe Schriber

One of the things I set out to do this year was read more, for both educational and entertainment purposes. One of the first books I picked up this year was Death Troopers. I will openly admit I have been a fan of Star Wars my entire life. I can vividly remember sitting in the theater and being totally swept away to a cantina on a back water planet. As I have grown my love has grown as well and I have continued to explore tha universe through both film and books.

Death Troopers was different for me. I started reading it with only the knowledge of the plot as it was printed on the flaps of the book.

When the Imperial prison barge Purge â€" temporary home to five hundred of the galaxy's most ruthless killers, rebels, scoundrels and thieves â€" breaks down in a distant, uninhabited part of space, its only hope seems to lie with a Star Destroyer found drifting, derelict and seemingly abandoned. But when a boarding party is sent to scavenge for parts, only half of them come back â€" bringing with them a horrific disease so lethal that within hours, nearly all aboard the Purge will die in ways too hideous to imagine.

And death is only the beginning.

The Purge's half-dozen survivors â€" two teenage brothers, a sadistic captain of the guards, a couple of rogue smugglers and the chief medical officer, the lone woman on board â€" will do whatever it takes to stay alive. But nothing can prepare them for what lies waiting onboard the Star Destroyer amid its vast creaking emptiness that isn't really empty at all. The dead are rising, soulless, unstoppable, and unspeakably hungry.

I went into the novel with the expectation of reading a great thriller that takes place in the universe so far far away. I was not disappointed. The plot unfolded in my mind with many twists and turns. I loved the description of the internal decks of the star destroyer in the piece. The crew of the Purge not having ever set foot on a ship that large was amazed at the size of the vessel. I was also stunned when two of my favorite characters from Star Wars made an appearance. I wonâ€™t discuss the plot other than to say it was worth my time to read it and if you are a fan it will be worth yours as well.

The next book I read will be more along the educational line, I should have a some of my thoughts on it in a few days.