I noticed there have been several posts recently about the Republic Commando books and the ongoing debate about the perspective they take. I'm coincidentally at Hard Contact in my chronological re-posting; I'll mention that overall, I'm in the school that appreciates the both alternate point of view in these novels and that of the heroic Jedi working with the clones in the cartoon. It's good to have differing takes on things.

With that said:

5/5 Rancors

So many Star Wars books focus almost exclusively on the saga's main heroes, especially the many post-Return of the Jedi adventures of Han, Luke, and Leia. This can make for a smaller-feeling universe than I like to imagine for the galaxy far, far away. Republic Commando: Hard Contact is a brilliant step away from the characters of the films, not featuring a single scene with anyone we know from the movies. Karen Traviss has real-life military service on her resume and it serves her well as she explores life in the Grand Army of the Republic.

When introduced in 1977, stormtroopers were the faceless minions of the Empire and primarily served as cannon fodder for our heroes. We never saw any faces under the white helmets and rarely saw one manage to shoot straight or show any particular aptitude for soldiering. With the prequels, George Lucas brought us a fascinating origin story: we learned that the stormtroopers' predecessors were clone troopers and the men in white served the Jedi in the Old Republic! Along with this new story came a higher visible level of competence from the troops onscreen.

Traviss takes this to a whole new level with her crack team of Republic commandos named Omega Squad (the commando concept was possibly inspired by a throwaway line in Attack of the Clones at the Battle of Geonosis, when a clone trooper informs Mace Windu that five commando teams are standing by). Through the course of this book, the clones are transformed from one-dimensional supporting characters into fully fleshed-out human beings with some seriously interesting perspective on why they exist and what life is all about. These men did not ask to be created and sent to war, and any thinking Jedi must confront the uncomfortable reality and the extremely shaky ethics of sending these men off to die in battle against the countless droid armies of the Separatists.

We get a main Jedi character who does just that in Etain Tur-Mukan, a confused and not-so-terribly-powerful Padawan whose master has just been violently taken from her. Her inner conflicts about the clone commandos who look to her for guidance and leadership make for compelling reading. Traviss handles the interactions between Etain and her team, especially with Darman, the clone Etain favors most, with grace and aplomb, writing the early awkward stages of their initial contact as well as their cohesion into a single working team by the climax of the book.

Qiilura is a memorable world of the many we encounter in these books. Most residents are living at subsistence level, barely scraping by on what little profit the Trade Federation permits them to retain. They seem to be obvious victims, but some doubt is introduced by the presence of the Gurlanin, native shape-shifters who have seemingly been persecuted viciously by the planet's more recent inhabitants. Ghez Hokan also has slight shades of gray; definitely a villain, but never one of the cackling, mustache-twirling variety. I appreciate how much gray Traviss places into her characters, setting, and story; it seems extremely appropriate for the first tale we read of the Clone Wars.

Republic Commando: Hard Contact massively exceeded my expectations for a book based on a video game (even though I did enjoy the game too). It changed the way I regard the clones and is a thrilling story to boot. Thankfully, others must have liked this book too, since we now have three sequels taking the story through Order 66 and a new series, Imperial Commando, starting up in 2009.