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| The Force Unleashed (Star Wars) | 
 enlarge | Author: Sean Williams
Publisher: Del Rey
Category: Book
List Price: $26.00
Buy New: $13.39
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Avg. Customer Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 357
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.3
ISBN: 0345499026
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780345499028
ASIN: 0345499026
Publication Date: August 19, 2008 (New: Last 30 Days)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new, mint condition!
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Product Description
“The Sith always betray one another. . . . I’m sure you’ll learn that soon enough.”
The overthrow of the Republic is complete. The Separatist forces have been smashed, the Jedi Council nearly decimated, and the rest of the Order all but destroyed. Now absolute power rests in the iron fist of Darth Sidious–the cunning Sith lord better known as the former Senator, now Emperor, Palpatine. But more remains to be done. Pockets of resistance in the galaxy must still be defeated and missing Jedi accounted for . . . and dealt with. These crucial tasks fall to the Emperor’s ruthless enforcer, Darth Vader. In turn, the Dark Lord has groomed a lethal apprentice entrusted with a top-secret mission: to comb the galaxy and dispatch the last of his masters’ enemies, thereby punctuating the dark side’s victory with the Jedi’s doom.
Since childhood, Vader’s nameless agent has known only the cold, mercenary creed of the Sith. His past is a void; his present, the carrying out of his deadly orders. But his future beckons like a glistening black jewel with the ultimate promise: to stand beside the only father he has ever known, with the galaxy at their feet. It is a destiny he can realize only by rising to the greatest challenge of his discipleship: destroying Emperor Palpatine.
The apprentice’s journeys will take him across the far reaches of the galaxy, from the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk to the junkyard planet of Raxus Prime. On these missions, the young Sith acolyte will forge an unlikely alliance with a ruined Jedi Master seeking redemption and wrestle with forbidden feelings for his beautiful comrade, Juno Eclipse. And he will be tested as never before–by shattering revelations that strike at the very heart of all he believes and stir within him long-forgotten hopes of reclaiming his name . . . and changing his destiny.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...
 Videogame-based story bridges some of the space between Episodes III and IV August 27, 2008
10 out of 13 found this review helpful
Sean Williams' novel The Force Unleashed is part of a multimedia blitz from Lucasfilm centered around the release of a multi-platform next-gen videogame. This particular project was started in 2005 and has the twin goals of providing a unique and trail-blazing gaming experience while simultaneously adding an important new chapter to the overall Star Wars saga. I've followed the development of The Force Unleashed with a certain degree of skepticism, centered around my doubt that a storyline so focused on creating an over-the-top, ultra-powerful gaming experience would be able to also sustain a compelling narrative.
Now that the novel is here, it appears my concerns were well-founded. The book reads like a summary of a videogame. Yes, that's what it is, but that doesn't lend itself to a well-rounded story. The characters in the book are thinly sketched, the plot is a series of "missions" that end in what are clearly boss fights in the game, and the bigger storyline has such a fundamental impact on the overall story of the saga that it undermines itself by being too rushed. Large expanses of the chapters are devoted either to tedious action sequences or the inner monologues of two of the characters, so not much room is left for meaningful exposition or more exploration of the plot's impact on the other main characters.
The two characters that get the bulk of the attention are Darth Vader's secret apprentice, a boy he has raised to eventually help him overthrow the Emperor, and Juno Eclipse, an Imperial pilot with misgivings about the side of the war she has chosen to fight for. The secret apprentice is the main character in the game, and his missions have a bizarrely amoral bent to them. Since Vader wants him to remain completely secret from everyone in the galaxy, that entails the apprentice slaughtering every single person that crosses his path, even his supposed Imperial allies. It feels like the storyline creators (while Sean Williams wrote this novel, it is based on the overall story from Haden Blackman), were concerned that this character might be too evil if he only wiped out good guys, and so they alleviate that by having him kill everybody. I find it hard to reconcile the apprentice's massive killing sprees with the vastly different role he is placed in at the end of the book.
The other difficulty with the apprentice's missions is the lack of tension during the action. He mows down any number of any enemies he encounters with no problems. His ability to tap the Force is close to unlimited, which is an interesting concept but it certainly doesn't make for a gripping fight scene. There are many descriptions of piles of bodies, people flying into walls, waves of Force power rippling through rooms, but the sequences are so nebulously depicted that they don't have enough impact. He does struggle some in the boss fights, but fans of Darth Vader as he was portrayed in the original trilogy are probably not going to like how his fight with the apprentice turns out here. I also was surprised how quickly his battle with Jedi Master Shaak Ti was resolved. Here is a leading Jedi who had survived sixteen long years since Order 66: it felt like there was a lot more story left to be told. Not to mention her apprentice, who essentially turns bad, fights the apprentice, and runs off, again feeling too much like a scene from the game and not a fully-realized story.
Williams describes the settings well and it is easy to visualize the distinct locations the story rapidly moves through. I enjoyed the brief appearance of a certain Rebel original trilogy character, and the apprentice's droid sidekick Proxy is an innovative concept. Proxy has a hologram technology that allows him to appear as anybody he has in his database, which has interesting ramifications for communications, fight training, and potentially for the apprentice's spy missions. He also provides a few nice moments of comic relief.
I won't spoil the end events of the story, which have a significant impact on the original trilogy of movies. Suffice it to say that they open up some interesting ideas, but I sorely wish Williams could have been freed to spend most of the book on this plotline and a whole lot less on action sequences. After reading the book, I am optimistic that the game itself may be a very engaging experience, but I would mostly recommend the novelization to hardcore fans who, like myself, want to know all the ins and outs of the larger saga.
 A well written outline... little deeper than the graphic novel August 27, 2008
6 out of 8 found this review helpful
Having read the graphic novel first, this 300+ page book serves basically as an extended version with little more depth, outside of an extended pair of sequences on Raxis Prime and the Death Star.
Based on the upcoming video game, aptly titled "The Force Unleashed," this book serves as a rough outline of the canonical story and ending of the game. This book follows the views of two main characters, the apprentice and Juno Eclipse. Within the first one hundred fifty pages the apprentice has already completed three of his missions to kill jedi, who get about three sentences of dialog apiece before being dispatched.
Little development is given to any other character, whether Darth Vader, the Emperor, or Ram Kota, each is virtually treated as a cardboard background to the shallow musings of the apprentice or Juno Eclipse. Given that it is a novel, it would have been refreshing to have seen the treatment given to novels of the prequel trilogy, whether the fishing scene between Jango Fett and his son Boba in the Attack of the Clones novelization, or the private musings of the Emperor and Vader which are explored in the Revenge of the Sith novelization. The novel explores no further than the graphic novel, and I'm sure it follows word for word the cut scenes of the video game.
It would have been nice for the author to have gone a bit deeper and given us a different vantage point to experience the story, whether from Darth Vader's point of view, or the Emperor's point of view. The novel is forgettable, and wasn't even as enjoyable as the worst of the Legacy of the Force novels.
Shadows of the Empire was also based on a video game, but at least it went a bit deeper than this book did. A novel gives the author the freedom to explore beyond the video game/movie - and it is sad when you can get virtually 100% of the experience this novel gives you from the 50 page graphic novel. I do not recommend this book for anyone outside of the most rabid of Star Wars fans who must get their hands on everything, and would point you to the graphic novel which at least is narrated by Proxy and gives a slightly different point of view to the story.
Sean Williams can write very well grammatically speaking, but artistically he expressed nothing more than could be expressed through pictures and comic bubbles. He should think about expanding beyond his source material for whatever he decides to write next time.
Save your money.
 Good Stuff - essential for SW fans! August 24, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
I went into this book with a grain of salt - because (well) it is based on a video game! But when I heard the premise of the story - that Darth Vader had acquired an apprentice between EP III and IV and it centered on him - there was just no way I wasn't going to read it - no matter how silly it seemed.
At times the book does read like a video game - if that makes any sense. Having played a few games in my life - I did get that feel while reading it. Particularly for the first hundred pages or so. The book opens with Vader's apprentice - "Starkiller" - going on errand after errand for his master and I imagine when the game comes out - that is probably what the first few levels will consist of.
I initially was dissappointed with the book because that first third of the book had no character development whatsoever - though it was full of non-stop action. Thankfully, after getting past those first few missions - we get to find out where Starkiller comes from and who he is. This in addition to some other characters that are essential to the story as well.
The story is really a view of one man's journey from the dark side to the light side - and you really never know if he is going to make the final commitment to "right/light" until the very end of the book. This primarily because the guy has lived with Vader his whole life. The author - Sean Williams - does a great job of painting conflict and inner struggle in the main character as well as the others. There is a bit of a love story in the background that was a nice touch in particular - mainly because it contributed to Starkiller's conflict between good and evil.
This story and its main character also plays a major role in the development of the Rebellion - and you learn a lot here on how it gets off the ground in the very beginning. As a Star Wars fan that alone makes this book worth reading. Princess Leah makes a "guest" appearance in the book and her adoptive father - Bail Organa - is a major player in the book. The whole formation of the Rebellion has a lot of twists and turns that I dare not give away - but trust me when I say this - you will never believe whose idea it is to get a Rebellion off the ground!
One other cool thing about this book - and no doubt will be cool about the game as well - is there is a droid - PROXY - whose primary function is to somehow make itself look and fight like specific Jedi Knights of old. You actually have Starkiller fighting a replica of Anakin Skywalker which made for some interesting reading to say the least. It will be interesting to see how the video game pulls that little trait off.
I would have given this book a five - but couldn't because all too often I found myself in that video game "mode" while reading. Even after that first hundred pages. That may not be fair - since the book is based on a video game but at times it felt a little awkward while reading. The whole Princess Leah "appearance" really came across as a video game - and if I were a betting man there will be a level in the game in which Starkiller will have to save the princess. As much as I love those original characters I just felt like this was something that was unnessary to the story. Its a minor issue I have - otherwise this is a great book! Check it out - especially if you are a Star Wars fan!
exciting novelization of the video game August 20, 2008
3 out of 24 found this review helpful
The chaos of war throughout the galaxy is no more as the Republic and its Jedi Knights are history and ironically so is their Separatist opponents who while destroying the Republic destroyed their movement too. However there is no power vacuum; as the diabolically brilliant Darth Sidious has played the sides against each other and has come through as the only central power left declaring himself the Emperor Palpatine. However this sly dictator knows others out there want to dethrone him either out of a thirst for freedom or the more dangerous group that want to replace him. He plans to rule with an iron fist forever so must eliminate the cancers that remain in revolt even those that are microscopic.
The Emperor assigns his top assistant, the equally vicious Darth Vader, who Palatine brought into the dark side with him, to destroy the remaining resistance. Vader has groomed a student for years for a deadly enforcer role. This Sith student knows one thing: to kill Vader's foes, who are defined as those opposing the Emperor. This student of Vader must first kill the remaining Jedi who failed to turn dark. However, this Apprentice has one flaw of light in an otherwise totally dark existence. He must choose between his mentor father figure Vader or the flickering light of hope he feels when he thinks of Juno Eclipse who hopes to hear his long lost name from her lips.
THE FORCE UNLEASHED is an exciting novelization of the video game though at times falls into the trap of feeling like a game. The Apprentice is a fascinating prime player who knows only loyalty and death as everything else has been programmed out of him by his fatherly mentor. His trek to eliminate resistance takes the audience on journeys to fascinating worlds especially that of the Wookiee. Fans will relish his escapades as this seemingly emotionless killing machine suddenly has feelings for a woman, but will his training or his heart rule his mind?
Harriet Klausner
 I was taken in shock by how well written this book actually is. August 24, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I would easily rank this book up on the level of Shadows of the Empire and the Thrawn Trilogy. This book came out of nowhere to me honestly, I really expected it to be pretty corny and full of puns like most of the recent EU Star Wars novels. However, that was not the case at all.
The visualizations this book actually brings in and the choice of words that are so well chosen make this book extremely believable. The interaction of the characters with one another are actually human. Of course, there are aliens because it is Star Wars based and there is the force and whatnot. It isn't completely over the top like some Star Wars books. The climax is set precisely at the end of the book, plenty of unexpected plot twists. Some things if you are as into Star Wars as I am you can guess for yourself, but it still makes you think on them until the very end. I now can understand fully why George Lucas determined this story to be the bridge between Episode 3 and 4. I guarantee this book will keep you entertained and on edge. I read it in one sit through and that is something I haven't done in close to 4 years.
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