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Star Wars: Republic Commando #4
Order 66
After the fierce combat of Hard Contact, Triple Zero, and True Colors comes the spectacular culmination of New York Times bestselling author Karen Traviss's gripping Republic Commando series. As a battle-scarred era nears its end, a shattering power play is about to stun the entire galaxy . . . and set in motion events that will alter destinies and resound throughout history.
Even as the Clone Wars are about to reach an explosive climax, no one knows if victory will favor the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) or the Separatists. But no matter who wins, the stakes are highest for elite Special Ops clones like the Republic Commandos in Omega and Delta squads–and the notorious renegade Advance Recon Commando troopers known as Null ARCs.
With Republic forces stretched to the max and casualties mounting, the last thing these beleaguered warriors need to hear is that Chancellor Palpatine is keeping vast armies of secret clone troops in reserve. Sergeant Skirata, a mentor to the clone commandos, has no intention of standing idly by while Palpatine sends them into battle like lambs to the slaughter. Skirata begins to plan the clones' escape from the GAR, but his heroic effort will be in vain unless he can reverse the clones' accelerated aging process.
Caught in the treacherous dealings of their leaders, and locked in the battles of their lives, the disillusioned Null ARCs and Commandos nonetheless fight with everything they’ve got, determined to wrest victory from the Seps and save the galaxy.
But even the deadliest weapons may not be powerful enough to defeat the real menace. And nothing will stop the apocalyptic horror unleashed when Palpatine utters the chilling words The time has come. Execute Order 66. Translation: The Jedi have tried to stage a coup, and all must be shot on sight.
With their faith in the Republic and their loyalty to their Jedi allies put to the ultimate test, how will the men of Omega and Delta squads react to the most infamous command in galactic history? All the breathtaking action, suspense, and intrigue of Karen Traviss's Republic Commando series comes alive in Star Wars: Order 66.
Even as the Clone Wars are about to reach an explosive climax, no one knows if victory will favor the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) or the Separatists. But no matter who wins, the stakes are highest for elite Special Ops clones like the Republic Commandos in Omega and Delta squads–and the notorious renegade Advance Recon Commando troopers known as Null ARCs.
With Republic forces stretched to the max and casualties mounting, the last thing these beleaguered warriors need to hear is that Chancellor Palpatine is keeping vast armies of secret clone troops in reserve. Sergeant Skirata, a mentor to the clone commandos, has no intention of standing idly by while Palpatine sends them into battle like lambs to the slaughter. Skirata begins to plan the clones' escape from the GAR, but his heroic effort will be in vain unless he can reverse the clones' accelerated aging process.
Caught in the treacherous dealings of their leaders, and locked in the battles of their lives, the disillusioned Null ARCs and Commandos nonetheless fight with everything they’ve got, determined to wrest victory from the Seps and save the galaxy.
But even the deadliest weapons may not be powerful enough to defeat the real menace. And nothing will stop the apocalyptic horror unleashed when Palpatine utters the chilling words The time has come. Execute Order 66. Translation: The Jedi have tried to stage a coup, and all must be shot on sight.
With their faith in the Republic and their loyalty to their Jedi allies put to the ultimate test, how will the men of Omega and Delta squads react to the most infamous command in galactic history? All the breathtaking action, suspense, and intrigue of Karen Traviss's Republic Commando series comes alive in Star Wars: Order 66.
448 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2008
323 people are currently reading
5008 people want to read
About the author
Karen Traviss
127 books1,499 followers#1 New York Times best-selling novelist, scriptwriter and comics author Karen Traviss has received critical acclaim for her award-nominated Wess'har series, and her work on Halo, Gears of War, Batman, G.I. Joe, and other major franchises has earned her a broad range of fans. She's best known for military science fiction, but GOING GREY and BLACK RUN, the first books in her new techno-thriller series RINGER, are set in the real world of today. A former defence correspondent and TV and newspaper journalist, she lives in Wiltshire, England. She's currently working on SACRIFICIAL RED, the third book in the Ringer series, and HERE WE STAND, book three in the NOMAD series.
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October 5, 2008
If you're not a Star Wars nerd, then don't even bother reading this review. In it, I will be writing under the premise that the Star Wars novels are something to be taken seriously. They're not, of course (supposed to be taken seriously, that is), but when reading guilty pleasure fare such as the "Republic Commando" series, it is best to heed the advice of Roger Ebert, who states that when criticizing something, you should judge it based not on what it is about, but how it is about it. And though the topic of this book (clone troopers raised to be perfect soldiers looking for love and freedom in a galaxy at war) is a bit silly, Karen Traviss treats her subjects most seriousl, writing a damned good novel about a rather silly premise. If you're not a Star Wars nerd, you may not be able to get past that premise. But if you are willing to judge it on its own terms, this is a novel definitely to be absorbed and enjoyed.
So, the review.
To begin with, I've always felt that Star Wars novels are at their best when they shuffle the main cast off to the sidelines and focus on secondary and even tertiary characters (what's the word for the fourth level?) Luke Skywalker and Han Solo are interesting characters to an extent, but the stakes are never very high. Back when Bantam was still publishing the EU books (that's 'Extended Universe' for the uninitiated), I felt guilty reading them not because I was indulging in geeky fun, but because I was paying Hardback Novel prices for crappy cookie-cutter stories where nothing of any import happened.
With the exception of the original two EU series (Zahn's Thrawn trilogy, and Anderson's Jedi Academy trilogy), my favorite stuff was the X-Wing series. Michael Stackpole took background character, mixed them with a handful of original creations, then turned them loose in the Star Wars universe. THAT was interesting.
Karen Traviss has a similar remit with her "Republic Commando" series, and she does an equally entertaining job. Actually, maybe a better job, because not only does she create a basket-full of new interesting characters, she also fleshes out and makes rather compelling the backgrounds and personalities of Clone Troopers, giving them their own unique little society; she explores (here as well as in her contributions to the recent "New Jedi Order" novels) Mandalorian society, and practically builds an entire world around their mercenary culture; and she establishes a rather credible and sad series of events that would lead to Clone Troopers suddenly, and without question murdering their Jedi generals. And the kicker? She does this with characters based on a video-game!
I'm one of the few who actually enjoyed the majority of the Star Wars movie prequels, but there were tons of places where George Lucas skimped on cause & effect storytelling in order to give us big plot twists and shocking turns-of-event. With the "Republic Commando" series, and particularly with "Order 66", Traviss fills in a lot of those gaps, and in my opinion, provides four novels that actually enhance the films. Yes, I said it: these books actually make watching the movies more enjoyable.
The above comments could be read as a review of the series as a whole, but there are particular things about "Order 66" which should probably be mentioned.
For example: Traviss's decision to not actualy mention the eponymous contingency plan until well past the half-way point in the book. A part of my brain was wondering if there were any Star Wars fans out there being massively disappointed with a novel named after a huge turning point in Episode III that didn't seem all that concerned for several hundred pages with mentioning said turning point.
You see, Traviss hasn't set out to write a novel about big action set pieces and explosions and wars and battles. Though all of that is in the background, she is far more interested in writing intimate studies of a few of her characters. Most of the individual members of Omega and Delta squads are pretty thin on character, but the few she singles out (Etain, Darman, Fi, Skirata, Jusik, and even a little of Scorch and Vau) are so well drawn that when things go south in the book's finale, its surprisingly heartbreaking to see everyone put throught he wringer.
And as for the finale, it works so well because Traviss takes such care to keep contigency order #66 under wraps until very late in the game. If you've seen the movie, then you already know what is going to happen. So instead of simply indulging in the obvious melodrama that Order 66 could bring about, Traviss lets her readers watch the cast go through their lives, naively planning their futures and exploring their new freedoms, while you, the reader, cringe since you know that everything is going to end in catastrophe. It was a subtle choice I honestly didn't expect to find in a Star Wars book.
I've read almost every Star Wars novel written, and I've never had any urge to read the non Star Wars stuff by any of the EU authors. I hear Kevin J. Anderson and James Luceno and Michael Stackpole have written all sorts of other great sci-fi. But frankly, I don't care. The Republic Commando series actually has me wondering if maybe it would be worth my time to go check out some other Karen Traviss works. I'm honestly that impressed with her writing.
If you're a fan of the EU, don't miss this series. Karen Traviss has easily written the best Star Wars books of the last ten years.
So, the review.
To begin with, I've always felt that Star Wars novels are at their best when they shuffle the main cast off to the sidelines and focus on secondary and even tertiary characters (what's the word for the fourth level?) Luke Skywalker and Han Solo are interesting characters to an extent, but the stakes are never very high. Back when Bantam was still publishing the EU books (that's 'Extended Universe' for the uninitiated), I felt guilty reading them not because I was indulging in geeky fun, but because I was paying Hardback Novel prices for crappy cookie-cutter stories where nothing of any import happened.
With the exception of the original two EU series (Zahn's Thrawn trilogy, and Anderson's Jedi Academy trilogy), my favorite stuff was the X-Wing series. Michael Stackpole took background character, mixed them with a handful of original creations, then turned them loose in the Star Wars universe. THAT was interesting.
Karen Traviss has a similar remit with her "Republic Commando" series, and she does an equally entertaining job. Actually, maybe a better job, because not only does she create a basket-full of new interesting characters, she also fleshes out and makes rather compelling the backgrounds and personalities of Clone Troopers, giving them their own unique little society; she explores (here as well as in her contributions to the recent "New Jedi Order" novels) Mandalorian society, and practically builds an entire world around their mercenary culture; and she establishes a rather credible and sad series of events that would lead to Clone Troopers suddenly, and without question murdering their Jedi generals. And the kicker? She does this with characters based on a video-game!
I'm one of the few who actually enjoyed the majority of the Star Wars movie prequels, but there were tons of places where George Lucas skimped on cause & effect storytelling in order to give us big plot twists and shocking turns-of-event. With the "Republic Commando" series, and particularly with "Order 66", Traviss fills in a lot of those gaps, and in my opinion, provides four novels that actually enhance the films. Yes, I said it: these books actually make watching the movies more enjoyable.
The above comments could be read as a review of the series as a whole, but there are particular things about "Order 66" which should probably be mentioned.
For example: Traviss's decision to not actualy mention the eponymous contingency plan until well past the half-way point in the book. A part of my brain was wondering if there were any Star Wars fans out there being massively disappointed with a novel named after a huge turning point in Episode III that didn't seem all that concerned for several hundred pages with mentioning said turning point.
You see, Traviss hasn't set out to write a novel about big action set pieces and explosions and wars and battles. Though all of that is in the background, she is far more interested in writing intimate studies of a few of her characters. Most of the individual members of Omega and Delta squads are pretty thin on character, but the few she singles out (Etain, Darman, Fi, Skirata, Jusik, and even a little of Scorch and Vau) are so well drawn that when things go south in the book's finale, its surprisingly heartbreaking to see everyone put throught he wringer.
And as for the finale, it works so well because Traviss takes such care to keep contigency order #66 under wraps until very late in the game. If you've seen the movie, then you already know what is going to happen. So instead of simply indulging in the obvious melodrama that Order 66 could bring about, Traviss lets her readers watch the cast go through their lives, naively planning their futures and exploring their new freedoms, while you, the reader, cringe since you know that everything is going to end in catastrophe. It was a subtle choice I honestly didn't expect to find in a Star Wars book.
I've read almost every Star Wars novel written, and I've never had any urge to read the non Star Wars stuff by any of the EU authors. I hear Kevin J. Anderson and James Luceno and Michael Stackpole have written all sorts of other great sci-fi. But frankly, I don't care. The Republic Commando series actually has me wondering if maybe it would be worth my time to go check out some other Karen Traviss works. I'm honestly that impressed with her writing.
If you're a fan of the EU, don't miss this series. Karen Traviss has easily written the best Star Wars books of the last ten years.
April 15, 2020
"An order was an order. And orders had to be followed, or else society fell apart."
The last book in the Republic Commando series! There was no way you could keep it from me. How would the clones that Karen Traviss has spent the last three books developing deal with this time altering order?
The clones from the last three books gear up in the final days of the war. Kal Skirata, den father, as it were, delves deeper into finding if the age acceleration can be reversed. Drama occurs between Ordo and Besany, Atin and Laseema, Darman and Etain, and Fi and Parja as they all deal with the "relationship" question. And pressure from the outside might force our courageous commandos to go into hiding far before the end of the war.
I Liked:
I tend to get a bit rambling here, so I want to streamline it for the ease of the reader and for the ease of the writer:
Writing
1.Karen Traviss pulls no punches. Right off the bat, not a page into the book, she has one of Jusik Bardan, who left the Jedi Order because of the hypocrisy of it, face another Jedi. Through his eyes, we see how desperate the Republic is to use a Jedi commander of such a young age, how, to the citizens of Coruscant (much like the citizens of America), life goes on as if there was no war, how maybe not everyone thinks the Jedi are peaches and cream, like so many Star Wars authors paint them, and how the Jedi are no better than the Separatists, if they are willing to resort to slave labor to fight their war. And this is only 4 pages into the book! Traviss continues this line into the book, showing the gray to the Jedi that most authors refuse to do, and revealing the errors, arrogance, and hypocrisy of the Jedi Order.
2.The Republic Commando books are thinking books. I love my brain candy, don't get me wrong, but sometimes, I think Star Wars authors try to hard to make brain candy and don't really sit to think through the situation. I would have loved to see Traviss write a book set in the New Republic era, when all the Empire attacks were occurring. Would she show how silly the New Republic was? How little better they were to the Empire that they were so against
Plot:
1.Why do the clone troopers have no problem turning on their Jedi commanding officers? This has been a question that has plagued me ever since I saw it on screen. Why? Was there no devotion, no growing attachment? Here we learn A) that Jedi aren't the all-loved beings that every other Star Wars novel paints them, B) many (I refuse to believe only Jusik and Etain treated their clone troopers like human beings) Jedi treated the clones like property, sub-beings, and C) the troopers are drilled to obey orders. So when the order comes through, they truly believe the Jedi are traitors to the Republic (which they were bred to serve). And because they are always told to follow orders, they do. I appreciate how KT solves this conundrum.
2.Etain realizes why the Jedi disapprove of attachment. In the previous books, Etain kept wondering why and then barrelling headlong into a relationship with Darman. Here, she learns, through relations with her son, why the Jedi don't like it. I appreciate Traviss even mentioning it (it would be very easy for her to have her characters refuse to admit there was a problem at all).
3.Trying to fit in other Star Wars Expanded Universe lore. Traviss brings up the horrid creation, Callista, from the horrid books by Barbara Hambly. I liked her thoughts, but would have enjoyed even more. I liked the foreshadowing of Order 66 with the revelation of 150 contingency orders. And learning why Jango sided with the Jedi, his mortal enemies, was very insightful indeed.
4.Once the words "Execute Order 66" appear on the page, the novel really goes into high gear. The pace picks up, the tension is high...who will come out alive and who will die?
5.Karen Traviss isn't afraid of killing off her own characters. After Michael Reaves copped out of having Darth Vader kill Jax in Coruscant Knights (sorry if I spoiled that for you), I was relieved to see KT wasn't like that. I won't say who or how many die, but she is realistic.
Characters:
1.Walon Vau. Man, this guy gets some of the best quotes, one of them being very similar to the one I used for the title of this review. I can really understand his mind, how he thinks. He may be apparently cold and emotionless, even the Jedi who feel him out think he is, but Walon Vau doesn't just do something because it feels right. He uses his mind. He calculates. And that is why I find him so fascinating!
2.Mandalorian culture. Again, Traviss imbues her novels with Mandalorian culture. I rather liked the marriage "ceremony" (though the frequency with which it occurred, I must disagree with), how is is a line said between the man and the woman together. And that is it. It fits with their culture well. Also, I like the warrior/family angle. It's nice not to have yet another pacifistic culture in the Star Wars universe. I know Star Wars is a big universe, but you have Alderaan and Camaas. You don't need Mandalorians too.
3.Favorite characters: Scorch (perhaps because he too holds himself, but isn't afraid to speak up about the injustices), Mij Gilamar (because it's too cool to have a Mando doctor, particularly one that reminds me of Dr. McCoy from Star Trek), Niner (whom I liked from HC, but can't get enough of), and Maze (because he is dedicated, he reads, and he endeavors to do his best at his job, doesn't want to desert at the drop of a hat).
I Didn't Like:
While I have a lot to admire about this book, I also have some complaints:
1.Unclear sense of morality. I love how so many characters (Kal, Besany) are considered "moral" when they still commit crimes. Espionage, treason, embezzlement, breaking and entering, impersonating Republic officials...those are crimes. Those are against the laws. Those are "wrong". Those are immoral. So, I would love for Traviss to be a bit more clear when she says Kal and Besany and whomever are so "moral". Does she mean that the characters want justice? What sort of justice? Who dictates what this justice is?
2."Let's get everyone married" mentality. Last book, it was "let's get everyone a girlfriend". Well, today's trend is marriage. Tomorrow's will probably be children. Nonetheless, while I enjoyed the marriage ceremony, I think doing it three...four...a billion times in the book (or mentioning it that many times) really deadens its impact. Make the ceremony special. Don't have everyone rushing out to get married to his/her significant other just before everyone dies. Some people will die without ever being married to his or her partner. Showing otherwise, in such a realistic book anyway, is fantastical.
3.Besany. I so don't like her, she gets her own bullet point. I am sick to death of her "so beautiful, it's a curse" characterization, so sick of hearing how quickly she helped out the Mandos, and how easily she can handle the fact her boyfriend/husband murders. She isn't that smart, clever, or anything. All she is is a girlfriend for one of the many clones. And her sudden attachment to Jilka and not wanting her to be blamed for Besany's treason? Where did that come from? When did she turn out to be a person who cared about someone who wasn't Mando?
4.Mandos are good, Jedi are bad. I do have a deeper appreciation for this, and am beginning to see the other side (and see that that view is often pushed by characters like Kal Skirata), but nonetheless, I wish that Traviss would tone down the Mando God complex. There is nothing the Mando's can't do. They are moral, they are strong, they are thoughtful, they are great warriors, they are great husbands, lovers, boyfriends, fathers, mothers, daughters, sons, and second-cousins twice removed, they are honorable, they are God incarnate. On the other hand, the Jedi are arrogant, demeaning, hypocrites, and oblivious. They all are glory-seekers, they all act like they know better, and they all treat clones like sub-humans. Again, I realize that many of the most guilty sections were written by Mandos, but still, I wish the virtues of General Zey and his actions were held in higher regard. Remember, Mandos are willing to be bought to fight someone's war. I do note that the Jedi fight the war to "save" the Republic, because they are arrogant enough to think they know what's best for it.
5.Etain and Jusik don't feel any sorrow for knowing many of their friends died in Order 66. Etain is too busy trying to leave and get to Darman and her son (understandable, but still, does she not have any pain or sympathy to her fellow Jedi?), and Jusik is too busy rallying the forces to care about Order 66. Even if they both disagree with the Jedi and their tenets, I have a hard time believing they would feel no sorrow, no loss, no tremors in the force as the people they loved and cared about died. What happened to the Obi-Wan feeling from "A New Hope", of a thousand voices crying out in terror being suddenly silenced? Jusik and Etain still use the Force, but can't feel the Jedi die through the Force? SPOILER: Jusik ought to feel something when Maze kills Zey, but no, nothing is ever mentioned. Because Zey was a good(ish) Jedi, not a Mando, and thus, not worthy of remembrance. END OF SPOILER.
6.The book is engaging enough, but the first part is pretty darn slow. I didn't realize it until the "Execute Order 66" line, but I wish KT could infuse a bit more action into her books, like she did with Hard Contact. Also, the Order came late into the book, and while I know the first part sets up for the second, I wish that the book focused more on the actual execution of Order 66 and not the prep.
Dialogue/Sexual Situations/Violence:
As always, the language is mad-up Star Wars (in this case, Mando) language. In some cases, it is pretty obvious what the "English" term would be.
Ordo is Besany's lover; Etain and Darman had a baby together. Laseema is oogled. Rather tame, on the whole.
The book is about commandos, so expect some gunplay, explosions, serious injuries, and character deaths.
Overall:
People have called these books many a thing, from the best thing to happen to Star Wars Expanded Universe to complete and utter heresy. But one thing remains: people talk about them endlessly. And how could you not? These books aren't like most of the Star Wars "dreck": they make you think. They force you to find your opinion and defend it. They bring to light parts of the Jedi that many don't like to see, but that are obvious, even if you only watch the movies.
So, in this final chapter of the Republic Commandos, I think I've finally gotten an idea of what the proponents of Karen Traviss' divisive books are talking about. Life is messy. The Jedi are messy. There is no easy answer. And anyone who says otherwise is lying to him or herself.
The last book in the Republic Commando series! There was no way you could keep it from me. How would the clones that Karen Traviss has spent the last three books developing deal with this time altering order?
The clones from the last three books gear up in the final days of the war. Kal Skirata, den father, as it were, delves deeper into finding if the age acceleration can be reversed. Drama occurs between Ordo and Besany, Atin and Laseema, Darman and Etain, and Fi and Parja as they all deal with the "relationship" question. And pressure from the outside might force our courageous commandos to go into hiding far before the end of the war.
I Liked:
I tend to get a bit rambling here, so I want to streamline it for the ease of the reader and for the ease of the writer:
Writing
1.Karen Traviss pulls no punches. Right off the bat, not a page into the book, she has one of Jusik Bardan, who left the Jedi Order because of the hypocrisy of it, face another Jedi. Through his eyes, we see how desperate the Republic is to use a Jedi commander of such a young age, how, to the citizens of Coruscant (much like the citizens of America), life goes on as if there was no war, how maybe not everyone thinks the Jedi are peaches and cream, like so many Star Wars authors paint them, and how the Jedi are no better than the Separatists, if they are willing to resort to slave labor to fight their war. And this is only 4 pages into the book! Traviss continues this line into the book, showing the gray to the Jedi that most authors refuse to do, and revealing the errors, arrogance, and hypocrisy of the Jedi Order.
2.The Republic Commando books are thinking books. I love my brain candy, don't get me wrong, but sometimes, I think Star Wars authors try to hard to make brain candy and don't really sit to think through the situation. I would have loved to see Traviss write a book set in the New Republic era, when all the Empire attacks were occurring. Would she show how silly the New Republic was? How little better they were to the Empire that they were so against
Plot:
1.Why do the clone troopers have no problem turning on their Jedi commanding officers? This has been a question that has plagued me ever since I saw it on screen. Why? Was there no devotion, no growing attachment? Here we learn A) that Jedi aren't the all-loved beings that every other Star Wars novel paints them, B) many (I refuse to believe only Jusik and Etain treated their clone troopers like human beings) Jedi treated the clones like property, sub-beings, and C) the troopers are drilled to obey orders. So when the order comes through, they truly believe the Jedi are traitors to the Republic (which they were bred to serve). And because they are always told to follow orders, they do. I appreciate how KT solves this conundrum.
2.Etain realizes why the Jedi disapprove of attachment. In the previous books, Etain kept wondering why and then barrelling headlong into a relationship with Darman. Here, she learns, through relations with her son, why the Jedi don't like it. I appreciate Traviss even mentioning it (it would be very easy for her to have her characters refuse to admit there was a problem at all).
3.Trying to fit in other Star Wars Expanded Universe lore. Traviss brings up the horrid creation, Callista, from the horrid books by Barbara Hambly. I liked her thoughts, but would have enjoyed even more. I liked the foreshadowing of Order 66 with the revelation of 150 contingency orders. And learning why Jango sided with the Jedi, his mortal enemies, was very insightful indeed.
4.Once the words "Execute Order 66" appear on the page, the novel really goes into high gear. The pace picks up, the tension is high...who will come out alive and who will die?
5.Karen Traviss isn't afraid of killing off her own characters. After Michael Reaves copped out of having Darth Vader kill Jax in Coruscant Knights (sorry if I spoiled that for you), I was relieved to see KT wasn't like that. I won't say who or how many die, but she is realistic.
Characters:
1.Walon Vau. Man, this guy gets some of the best quotes, one of them being very similar to the one I used for the title of this review. I can really understand his mind, how he thinks. He may be apparently cold and emotionless, even the Jedi who feel him out think he is, but Walon Vau doesn't just do something because it feels right. He uses his mind. He calculates. And that is why I find him so fascinating!
2.Mandalorian culture. Again, Traviss imbues her novels with Mandalorian culture. I rather liked the marriage "ceremony" (though the frequency with which it occurred, I must disagree with), how is is a line said between the man and the woman together. And that is it. It fits with their culture well. Also, I like the warrior/family angle. It's nice not to have yet another pacifistic culture in the Star Wars universe. I know Star Wars is a big universe, but you have Alderaan and Camaas. You don't need Mandalorians too.
3.Favorite characters: Scorch (perhaps because he too holds himself, but isn't afraid to speak up about the injustices), Mij Gilamar (because it's too cool to have a Mando doctor, particularly one that reminds me of Dr. McCoy from Star Trek), Niner (whom I liked from HC, but can't get enough of), and Maze (because he is dedicated, he reads, and he endeavors to do his best at his job, doesn't want to desert at the drop of a hat).
I Didn't Like:
While I have a lot to admire about this book, I also have some complaints:
1.Unclear sense of morality. I love how so many characters (Kal, Besany) are considered "moral" when they still commit crimes. Espionage, treason, embezzlement, breaking and entering, impersonating Republic officials...those are crimes. Those are against the laws. Those are "wrong". Those are immoral. So, I would love for Traviss to be a bit more clear when she says Kal and Besany and whomever are so "moral". Does she mean that the characters want justice? What sort of justice? Who dictates what this justice is?
2."Let's get everyone married" mentality. Last book, it was "let's get everyone a girlfriend". Well, today's trend is marriage. Tomorrow's will probably be children. Nonetheless, while I enjoyed the marriage ceremony, I think doing it three...four...a billion times in the book (or mentioning it that many times) really deadens its impact. Make the ceremony special. Don't have everyone rushing out to get married to his/her significant other just before everyone dies. Some people will die without ever being married to his or her partner. Showing otherwise, in such a realistic book anyway, is fantastical.
3.Besany. I so don't like her, she gets her own bullet point. I am sick to death of her "so beautiful, it's a curse" characterization, so sick of hearing how quickly she helped out the Mandos, and how easily she can handle the fact her boyfriend/husband murders. She isn't that smart, clever, or anything. All she is is a girlfriend for one of the many clones. And her sudden attachment to Jilka and not wanting her to be blamed for Besany's treason? Where did that come from? When did she turn out to be a person who cared about someone who wasn't Mando?
4.Mandos are good, Jedi are bad. I do have a deeper appreciation for this, and am beginning to see the other side (and see that that view is often pushed by characters like Kal Skirata), but nonetheless, I wish that Traviss would tone down the Mando God complex. There is nothing the Mando's can't do. They are moral, they are strong, they are thoughtful, they are great warriors, they are great husbands, lovers, boyfriends, fathers, mothers, daughters, sons, and second-cousins twice removed, they are honorable, they are God incarnate. On the other hand, the Jedi are arrogant, demeaning, hypocrites, and oblivious. They all are glory-seekers, they all act like they know better, and they all treat clones like sub-humans. Again, I realize that many of the most guilty sections were written by Mandos, but still, I wish the virtues of General Zey and his actions were held in higher regard. Remember, Mandos are willing to be bought to fight someone's war. I do note that the Jedi fight the war to "save" the Republic, because they are arrogant enough to think they know what's best for it.
5.Etain and Jusik don't feel any sorrow for knowing many of their friends died in Order 66. Etain is too busy trying to leave and get to Darman and her son (understandable, but still, does she not have any pain or sympathy to her fellow Jedi?), and Jusik is too busy rallying the forces to care about Order 66. Even if they both disagree with the Jedi and their tenets, I have a hard time believing they would feel no sorrow, no loss, no tremors in the force as the people they loved and cared about died. What happened to the Obi-Wan feeling from "A New Hope", of a thousand voices crying out in terror being suddenly silenced? Jusik and Etain still use the Force, but can't feel the Jedi die through the Force? SPOILER: Jusik ought to feel something when Maze kills Zey, but no, nothing is ever mentioned. Because Zey was a good(ish) Jedi, not a Mando, and thus, not worthy of remembrance. END OF SPOILER.
6.The book is engaging enough, but the first part is pretty darn slow. I didn't realize it until the "Execute Order 66" line, but I wish KT could infuse a bit more action into her books, like she did with Hard Contact. Also, the Order came late into the book, and while I know the first part sets up for the second, I wish that the book focused more on the actual execution of Order 66 and not the prep.
Dialogue/Sexual Situations/Violence:
As always, the language is mad-up Star Wars (in this case, Mando) language. In some cases, it is pretty obvious what the "English" term would be.
Ordo is Besany's lover; Etain and Darman had a baby together. Laseema is oogled. Rather tame, on the whole.
The book is about commandos, so expect some gunplay, explosions, serious injuries, and character deaths.
Overall:
People have called these books many a thing, from the best thing to happen to Star Wars Expanded Universe to complete and utter heresy. But one thing remains: people talk about them endlessly. And how could you not? These books aren't like most of the Star Wars "dreck": they make you think. They force you to find your opinion and defend it. They bring to light parts of the Jedi that many don't like to see, but that are obvious, even if you only watch the movies.
So, in this final chapter of the Republic Commandos, I think I've finally gotten an idea of what the proponents of Karen Traviss' divisive books are talking about. Life is messy. The Jedi are messy. There is no easy answer. And anyone who says otherwise is lying to him or herself.
February 3, 2021
Someone started calling this series “The Cloned and the Restless” and I’m inclined to agree. Waaay too angsty. WAY too hard on the Jedi imo. Obi-Wan is NOT an arrogant windbag (don’t you come after him and Cody like that, Ordo!); Yoda shouldn’t be demonized for making a tough military decision when he can feel LITERALLY EVERY DEATH in the Force. And I don’t believe Quinlan Vos didn’t call his men by their names for a second. And snapping their fingers and just saying “Clone!” No, no, no, no, NO. It almost seems like Traviss is convinced if you’re not Mando or don’t eventually become Mando you’re completely evil. FALSE. I find it incredibly interesting that she didn’t attempt to write any of the Jedi mentioned above. Perhaps it was because she knew they’d end up being completely out of character? That it would contradict the obvious comraderie the clones and the Jedi had during the war as displayed in RotS and the Clone Wars show (which yes came out after this but still)? Hmmm...🤷🏼♀️
This was supposed to be a big moral conundrum, but if they really were that bad you should have no trouble at all pulling the trigger. I found no such conundrums, I just found an angsty soap opera with a dumb end for a dumb character. If Etain truly cared about the clones so much, why did she use Darman to fill a void and selfishly conceive with help of the Force? Why isn’t she facing down the Senate and those at the top of the Order and, I dunno, actually fighting for their kriffing rights? I feel terrible for the poor Padawan that accidentally killed her while trying to defend him/herself. A Caleb Dume/Cal Kestis type who was terrified and just trying to survive. The ARC Etain saved was trying to kill the kid; of COURSE he’s gonna do what he had to to stay alive! But of course all the Padawans get wrecked just for trying to stay alive because ALL JEDI ARE EVILLLLLL AND MUST BE DESTROYEDDD! Now I get that Mandalore and the Jedi don’t have good history, and I would have been okay with at least Skirata and Vau and the other long-time Mandos having a healthy distrust of them. But literally EVERYONE having the same view is boring and unrealistic and it made me ANGRY.
Also where in the kriffing Corellian hells are the Seps? Dooku? Grievous? You know, the guys that are actually killing clones left and right and are the literal embodiment of pure evil? The homicidal, genocidal maniacs that drove the Jedi to war in the first place? (Btw where is this “the clones belonged to the Jedi” crap coming from? They belonged to the Republic, which obviously is wrong, but when people are screaming for help because General KRIFFING Grievous is at their doorstep, what were the Jedi supposed to do?! Go after him without help?) And when it revealed that the Republic is now the Empire in the hands of a Sith Lord...come on, at least Bardan should have had a much bigger oh SHAB reaction to that, having been a Jedi. He should know the significance and should know that everyone got played by and evil mastermind, but his reaction is “Meh. Better keep Kad away from him I guess.” 🤦🏼♀️
Big fat ball of yikes for me right here. How on Earth is this better than the canon? In Filoni we trust. Stay fresh, cheese bags.
This was supposed to be a big moral conundrum, but if they really were that bad you should have no trouble at all pulling the trigger. I found no such conundrums, I just found an angsty soap opera with a dumb end for a dumb character. If Etain truly cared about the clones so much, why did she use Darman to fill a void and selfishly conceive with help of the Force? Why isn’t she facing down the Senate and those at the top of the Order and, I dunno, actually fighting for their kriffing rights? I feel terrible for the poor Padawan that accidentally killed her while trying to defend him/herself. A Caleb Dume/Cal Kestis type who was terrified and just trying to survive. The ARC Etain saved was trying to kill the kid; of COURSE he’s gonna do what he had to to stay alive! But of course all the Padawans get wrecked just for trying to stay alive because ALL JEDI ARE EVILLLLLL AND MUST BE DESTROYEDDD! Now I get that Mandalore and the Jedi don’t have good history, and I would have been okay with at least Skirata and Vau and the other long-time Mandos having a healthy distrust of them. But literally EVERYONE having the same view is boring and unrealistic and it made me ANGRY.
Also where in the kriffing Corellian hells are the Seps? Dooku? Grievous? You know, the guys that are actually killing clones left and right and are the literal embodiment of pure evil? The homicidal, genocidal maniacs that drove the Jedi to war in the first place? (Btw where is this “the clones belonged to the Jedi” crap coming from? They belonged to the Republic, which obviously is wrong, but when people are screaming for help because General KRIFFING Grievous is at their doorstep, what were the Jedi supposed to do?! Go after him without help?) And when it revealed that the Republic is now the Empire in the hands of a Sith Lord...come on, at least Bardan should have had a much bigger oh SHAB reaction to that, having been a Jedi. He should know the significance and should know that everyone got played by and evil mastermind, but his reaction is “Meh. Better keep Kad away from him I guess.” 🤦🏼♀️
Big fat ball of yikes for me right here. How on Earth is this better than the canon? In Filoni we trust. Stay fresh, cheese bags.
March 25, 2010
Female writers in the science fiction and fantasy field are fairly rare. One's that are any good are even more so. (This is not because women are bad writers it is because of Sturgeon's Law.)
Star Wars books tend to be an extreme subset of this culture. There are books by female authors but each one seems more painfully confused than the last. Kathy Tyers was quite good (thankfully, since she started off the whole Expanded Universe thing). Kristine Katherine Rusch was very good – she usually is – but only wrote one book. Then we were forced to trip through Barbara Hambly (the only Star Wars books that I have not been able to finish), Vonda McIntyre, K. W. Jeter, A. C. Crispin and Elaine Cunningham.
Then Lucasbooks released a book by a new author, Karen Traviss. To make things worse the book was a novelization of a video game for the XBOX. So now we have a tie-in novel for a video game in a tie-in universe. With some trepidation I picked up the first of Karen Traviss's Republic Commando novels and found myself living inside this universe in a way that only happens with the best of writers.
Karen Traviss is somewhat of an enigma to me. She writes books about science fiction militaries. She worked as a secretary to the British Minister of Defense for a number of years so she knows how soldiers think and act. She also writes books very fast – about three months each – but with never a word out of place. The dialogue always feels real and her writing flows smoothly. The dichotomy comes from the fact that Miss Traviss does not read. She hates reading and hates books. She gets her entertainment from television and movies and refuses to read.
Star Wars: Republic Commando: Order 66 is one of the most emotionally powerful books I've ever read. The story opens with the two Mandalorian Sergeants Kal Skirata and Walon Vau standing in the hangar of a clone trooper barracks on Coruscant reciting the names of all the fallen clones who died four years before at the Battle of Geonosis. Skirata and Vau trained the clones and adopted them as their own children.
The book is about the Commandos in Delta and Omega squads as they struggle to find meaning in a war that they are being forced to fight. Jokingly they call themselves wet-droids and give each other nicknames. Their names usually have to do with their serial number (Fi, Niner, Sev), some are representative of their personalities (Boss, Scorch, Fixer), others are Madalorian words (Darman, Atin). Each of the clones is unique.
Skirata, obsessed with saving his boys from their accelerated aging, has acquired all of Ko Sai's research into genetics and is looking for a new researcher, and a way out of the Grand Army of the Republic for his clones.
Anybody who remembers Order 66 from the Star Wars movies will know that this book is a tragedy. It moves toward the climax with a weight that tugs at every scene. The clones are stretched to their limit. Skirata and Vau are caught between the Jedi and their own agendas to save their adopted clone children. Darman, one of the clones in Omega squad, is married to Etain, a Jedi Knight and she finally tells him that he has a son. Atin struggles to overcome his hatred of Vau who abused him when he was younger in order to “make him tough enough to survive.” Niner just wants to walk straight and follow orders but he's torn with his loyalty to his 'father' Skirata and his loyalty to the Republic. Fi, reported dead after a near fatal head-wound fights with his own lost memory and coordination to become the man that he once was.
Then comes the moment when Chancellor Palpatine speaks the words that mean the death sentence of all Jedi. Darman, Niner, Atin and the others are hurled into chaos and pain that they were never given a chance to sign up for.
Karen Traviss's writing is as solid as ever. Her greatest strengths have always been the emotional impact of trauma on individuals and the great, realistic characters that she writes about. I have found myself thinking about the characters in these books as real people, comparing them to others that I meet.
Dialogue and description are some of the best I've read. Karen Traviss has woven a tapestry of culture and history into the Star Wars universe that makes sense out of the new movies and brings an emotional weight to Star Wars that it has been missing for... maybe forever.
Karen Traviss and her Republic Commando books are among the best Star Wars books out there and stand as shining examples to the world that just because it's Star Wars doesn't make it garbage. Order 66 is the best of the bunch and answers two questions that get repeated over and over. Can Science Fiction have good literature? and Can a tie-in book be good Science Fiction? The answer – according to Miss Traviss is “absolutely.”
(9/10)
Star Wars books tend to be an extreme subset of this culture. There are books by female authors but each one seems more painfully confused than the last. Kathy Tyers was quite good (thankfully, since she started off the whole Expanded Universe thing). Kristine Katherine Rusch was very good – she usually is – but only wrote one book. Then we were forced to trip through Barbara Hambly (the only Star Wars books that I have not been able to finish), Vonda McIntyre, K. W. Jeter, A. C. Crispin and Elaine Cunningham.
Then Lucasbooks released a book by a new author, Karen Traviss. To make things worse the book was a novelization of a video game for the XBOX. So now we have a tie-in novel for a video game in a tie-in universe. With some trepidation I picked up the first of Karen Traviss's Republic Commando novels and found myself living inside this universe in a way that only happens with the best of writers.
Karen Traviss is somewhat of an enigma to me. She writes books about science fiction militaries. She worked as a secretary to the British Minister of Defense for a number of years so she knows how soldiers think and act. She also writes books very fast – about three months each – but with never a word out of place. The dialogue always feels real and her writing flows smoothly. The dichotomy comes from the fact that Miss Traviss does not read. She hates reading and hates books. She gets her entertainment from television and movies and refuses to read.
Star Wars: Republic Commando: Order 66 is one of the most emotionally powerful books I've ever read. The story opens with the two Mandalorian Sergeants Kal Skirata and Walon Vau standing in the hangar of a clone trooper barracks on Coruscant reciting the names of all the fallen clones who died four years before at the Battle of Geonosis. Skirata and Vau trained the clones and adopted them as their own children.
The book is about the Commandos in Delta and Omega squads as they struggle to find meaning in a war that they are being forced to fight. Jokingly they call themselves wet-droids and give each other nicknames. Their names usually have to do with their serial number (Fi, Niner, Sev), some are representative of their personalities (Boss, Scorch, Fixer), others are Madalorian words (Darman, Atin). Each of the clones is unique.
Skirata, obsessed with saving his boys from their accelerated aging, has acquired all of Ko Sai's research into genetics and is looking for a new researcher, and a way out of the Grand Army of the Republic for his clones.
Anybody who remembers Order 66 from the Star Wars movies will know that this book is a tragedy. It moves toward the climax with a weight that tugs at every scene. The clones are stretched to their limit. Skirata and Vau are caught between the Jedi and their own agendas to save their adopted clone children. Darman, one of the clones in Omega squad, is married to Etain, a Jedi Knight and she finally tells him that he has a son. Atin struggles to overcome his hatred of Vau who abused him when he was younger in order to “make him tough enough to survive.” Niner just wants to walk straight and follow orders but he's torn with his loyalty to his 'father' Skirata and his loyalty to the Republic. Fi, reported dead after a near fatal head-wound fights with his own lost memory and coordination to become the man that he once was.
Then comes the moment when Chancellor Palpatine speaks the words that mean the death sentence of all Jedi. Darman, Niner, Atin and the others are hurled into chaos and pain that they were never given a chance to sign up for.
Karen Traviss's writing is as solid as ever. Her greatest strengths have always been the emotional impact of trauma on individuals and the great, realistic characters that she writes about. I have found myself thinking about the characters in these books as real people, comparing them to others that I meet.
Dialogue and description are some of the best I've read. Karen Traviss has woven a tapestry of culture and history into the Star Wars universe that makes sense out of the new movies and brings an emotional weight to Star Wars that it has been missing for... maybe forever.
Karen Traviss and her Republic Commando books are among the best Star Wars books out there and stand as shining examples to the world that just because it's Star Wars doesn't make it garbage. Order 66 is the best of the bunch and answers two questions that get repeated over and over. Can Science Fiction have good literature? and Can a tie-in book be good Science Fiction? The answer – according to Miss Traviss is “absolutely.”
(9/10)
November 30, 2015
First off it is exceedingly rare that I do not finish a book. Secondly, I am a huge Star Wars fan and am VERY familiar with the story and the expanded universe. Thus, it is with a certain amount of surprise I can say that I was able to read about 170 pages into this book before I just had no more desire to finish it. I was genuinely excited to find out more about the infamous Order 66- what I got is this soap opera. Perhaps my not having read any of the Republic Commando books prior to this caused my utter disconnect with the characters. I even took the time to peruse the other reviews in the middle of my reading to see if it was just me..and I see that it was. I am not sure how this book got as high a rating as it did. What didn't I like?
1- Way too many characters with very little reference (unless I presume that you've read the other novels) making it very hard to give a damn about them.
2- Does not explain the differences between the different types of Clones. I get that Null troopers and ARCs are different, but a little more explanation in a 400 pages book would have been useful. Again I freely admit that this might be because I had not read the previous novels.
3- What is with all this relationship crap going on throughout the story? It was more about these elite clones getting married (2 marriages in the first 120 pages) or their relationships with their children, adopted or otherwise. It wasn't a few references here and there, but more like blah blah I got married, blah blah oh I love this guy/girl/jedi blah blah oh Im an ARC trooper and I haven't seen my kids who hate me, blah blah I'm a jedi and I have kids that I don't see often blah blah honey do you want me to cook no? well here is a ring wanna get married? blah blah jedi who left the order (but strangely I've NEVER heard of them in any of the expanded universe- and believe me I even caught the Demagol reference so I am not ignorant of a great deal of SW lore. At the point where the jedi and the twi'lek are talking about stretch marks due to pregnancy I just gave up. Sorry but NOT my thing at all. Also having served in an elite military unit for a decade I am well aware that we, being human, do think of family, friends and loved ones-but we do NOT do that in the middle of combat. If you do..then your head is not in the game and you will end up dead. Period. So in the middle of a 4 ARC troops vs 150 rebels fight with no backup is not the time to go wondering about your wife/sons/neighbors dog, etc. Sorry..these ARC troopers are supposed to be super soldiers-it'd be nice if their head was in the game vs offworld somewhere in the middle of combat. Just a thought- i realize the author wrote for some defense publication but really?
4- Dear God the overusage of Mandalorian terms reminds me of talking to a Star Trek geek who uses Klingon in everyday talk. Once in awhile is no problem (i know what the Mandalore is, I know what the Mando'ade is, etc) but when every conversation with these ARC troops is rife with Mandolorian terms (hello some kind of appendix/glossary? That would have helped) it becomes extremely annoying.
Perhaps it's just me and I freely admit that this was just my opinion since this book received great ratings but because of these main issues I just moved on to other books. Somewhere in this Days of Our Lives meets Star Wars ARC troopers there is a great story- I liked the stuff happening in the background, some of the moral choices the Jedi Order made being highlighted, the talk about defense procurements, etc..but it was lost in the tripe of love triangles interspaced with a heavy deluge of obscure and esoteric Mandalorian words.
1- Way too many characters with very little reference (unless I presume that you've read the other novels) making it very hard to give a damn about them.
2- Does not explain the differences between the different types of Clones. I get that Null troopers and ARCs are different, but a little more explanation in a 400 pages book would have been useful. Again I freely admit that this might be because I had not read the previous novels.
3- What is with all this relationship crap going on throughout the story? It was more about these elite clones getting married (2 marriages in the first 120 pages) or their relationships with their children, adopted or otherwise. It wasn't a few references here and there, but more like blah blah I got married, blah blah oh I love this guy/girl/jedi blah blah oh Im an ARC trooper and I haven't seen my kids who hate me, blah blah I'm a jedi and I have kids that I don't see often blah blah honey do you want me to cook no? well here is a ring wanna get married? blah blah jedi who left the order (but strangely I've NEVER heard of them in any of the expanded universe- and believe me I even caught the Demagol reference so I am not ignorant of a great deal of SW lore. At the point where the jedi and the twi'lek are talking about stretch marks due to pregnancy I just gave up. Sorry but NOT my thing at all. Also having served in an elite military unit for a decade I am well aware that we, being human, do think of family, friends and loved ones-but we do NOT do that in the middle of combat. If you do..then your head is not in the game and you will end up dead. Period. So in the middle of a 4 ARC troops vs 150 rebels fight with no backup is not the time to go wondering about your wife/sons/neighbors dog, etc. Sorry..these ARC troopers are supposed to be super soldiers-it'd be nice if their head was in the game vs offworld somewhere in the middle of combat. Just a thought- i realize the author wrote for some defense publication but really?
4- Dear God the overusage of Mandalorian terms reminds me of talking to a Star Trek geek who uses Klingon in everyday talk. Once in awhile is no problem (i know what the Mandalore is, I know what the Mando'ade is, etc) but when every conversation with these ARC troops is rife with Mandolorian terms (hello some kind of appendix/glossary? That would have helped) it becomes extremely annoying.
Perhaps it's just me and I freely admit that this was just my opinion since this book received great ratings but because of these main issues I just moved on to other books. Somewhere in this Days of Our Lives meets Star Wars ARC troopers there is a great story- I liked the stuff happening in the background, some of the moral choices the Jedi Order made being highlighted, the talk about defense procurements, etc..but it was lost in the tripe of love triangles interspaced with a heavy deluge of obscure and esoteric Mandalorian words.
June 30, 2020
Do you enjoy it when a book describes in minute technical detail how to strip down, clean, and reassemble a rifle? At this point you may be thinking; ‘yes! I love books like that!’ or ‘not really, military fiction isn’t my thing’. Do you enjoy it when that same level of functional prose and technical minutiae is applied to everything from snack breaks to checking the time to walking across the street to a restaurant? Afraid you’ll miss being told about a character’s comfort break? Then this book might be just the thing for you!
As far as I’m concerned, it’s the worst book in Star Wars. Yeah, you heard me. Crystal Star was better than this. Look, I admit, I’ve never been the biggest fan of military fiction to begin with, and it’s not because of the combat, or I wouldn’t be a fan of Star Wars in the first place. It’s because often – not always, but in too many books I’ve read – offerings in that genre focus with absolute precision on technical details to a degree which I feel is unnecessary, while failing to make me care about their protagonist, or indeed to give their protagonist a distinguishable personality at all beyond ‘good guy’. That’s one thing. Applying that same intense scrutiny to mundane routine and everyday objects is another thing entirely. It’s incredibly difficult for a book to hold my interest when it lavishes paragraphs upon some inconsequential snippet; it has a soporific effect.
And what’s strange about the Republic Commando series… alright, there are a lot of strange things about this series… but I find most unusual the way Traviss combines the driest of military fiction with the frothiest of soap operas. If we’re not slogging through the sparing language of mechanical specs, we’re… reading about a lunch date between one of the clone troopers’ girlfriends and another clone trooper’s baby mama? Wait... what? Getting married is brought up by four different clone troopers within the first 60 pages. Seriously? Last book was ‘let’s get everyone a girlfriend!’, which was bad enough, but now they’re all wanting to get married at the same time too? Do not tell me it’s because they’re clone troopers, or because it’s the wartime quick hitch factor. Not after Traviss has tried to hammer it home through this series that the guys are all individuals and real human beings – and you’d think their different partners would want different things too. It’s actually making it harder for me to tell the individual clone troopers apart when their story beats are happening in such a similar way. I don’t get it. Is it supposed to be thrilling and exciting to read the guys thinking about what they’ll cook their girlfriend for dinner just before they go into combat – when their heads should be in the game and not fretting over romantic relationships anyway? I felt like this was barely Star Wars at moments, aside from the occasional dropped in mention of starships and lasers – it could have been a bad mashup of a bland action flick and a reality show. I can’t even begin to tell you how utterly boring the WAGs are – and I call them that because, disappointingly, all the women seem to exist purely to be attached to the clones, even the ex-Jedi, and are referred to throughout as ‘girl’ instead of grown adults.
And all that is before I even get into the fact that Traviss still seems to be writing in a completely different universe from all other Star Wars media. In her world the clones are deeply and intimately connected to Mandalorian culture, despite this not being shown anywhere else, and her Jedi are all scummy hypocrites for using a slave army of clones, instead of showing clear and explicit empathy for the clones like Anakin and Ahsoka do in the Clone Wars animated series, like Barriss Offee does in the Medstar duology, like Shaak Ti does in the Clone Wars graphic novels. This has never rung true for me. I just do not buy that none of the Jedi ever took an interest in the clones or debated the rightness of what they were doing and what side they should be on, except for Traviss’ own two special exceptions, Jusik and Etain – not when there are plenty of stories out there of the Jedi doing just that. This really feels like non-canon to me.
1 out of 10
November 24, 2020
This book was set in the time period that I found most interesting in the Republic Commando series, which kind of came down to the fact that much of the series is difficult to place within the events of the Clone Wars.
There were two things that really sat wrong with me and made me mad in spite of not being bored with the story. The first is that Traviss continues her vendetta against the Jedi. I'm beginning to think that maybe she had a relative who was a clone in a slave army and hasn't gotten over it yet. She really hates Jedi. In the first book, it was a nice perspective that differed from the vast majority of the EU. The anti-Jedi message got stronger and stronger and in this book, they are basically evil. They don't remotely care about the clones or any innocent people. They view clones as droids, which doesn't even remotely make sense since they can sense emotions and would be able to sense that they are living beings much like anyone else. Even before they know the truth about Palpatine, the Jedi are irredeemable and corrupt to the core. There may be a few exceptions to that, but that is the opposite of how the Jedi were in every other depiction. Even if Traviss were to say that this is only giving the perspective of the clones who have been heavily influenced by Mandalorians, they would've had example after example of Jedi in the war risking their lives to save clones. They even had two of them join their group. The only thing you could say against them was their accpetance of using the clone army. Fine. Worthy of criticism. There is no universe where the Jedi accepting the clone army (just like Skirata did and Vau did and everyone else who isn't depicted as evil in this series by the way) grossly outweighs how they would fight alongside and sacrifice their safety for the sake of the clones. However, Traviss only shows the Jedi being dismissive of clones at best. It felt like bad fan fiction because it shouldn't be the polar opposite of the rest of the EU. This just shouldn't have ever been a part of canon it is so far off.
The second terrible decision Traviss made was .
There was a scene described in the book that made me shake my head. At least on one occurrence, Traviss indicates that the Jedi are aware of the 150 or so Orders for the GAR. She doesn't give any indication that I remember that Order 66 was hidden or faked in any away. So the Jedi weren't worried at all that the Chancellor had an order set up that, if the Chancellor decided, the millions of troops at his command would turn and murder all of the Jedi? The Clone Wars animated show did this infinitely better by having this be implanted unknowingly in their brains so that, when they get the order, they basically go on auto-pilot and just do it. That makes sense. How does what happens in this story gel with the movies at all? Kenobi was clearly very close with Commander Cody. Am I to now believe that in spite of the deep respect and friendship between Cody and Kenobi, Cody is willing to immediately turn and try and murder his friend after getting this order? There isn't even a hint of hesitation? It's kind of amazing to me that this got past the people in charge of continuity at LucasArts. It is also telling that Traviss didn't put much thought into it as well.
My final complaint is halfhearted, but I don't understand why Delta Squad is in the series. Maybe they are in the video game or something, but they are in it just rarely enough that I don't feel like I know the characters much at all.
Now that I'm done complaining, I did like having the events get to Revenge of the Sith and seeing the overlap between the movie and the book. One of the big shortcomings of the movie was how this humongous battle for the capitol of the galaxy isn't that momentous. This was shown better in the book where the battle lasted almost a week and included troops on the ground. Surprisngly, the book being a big soap opera didn't really bother me. I would recommend this book to people who aren't too concerned about Star Wars continuity, but hardcore fans like myself will probably find a lot to annoy you in this book.
There were two things that really sat wrong with me and made me mad in spite of not being bored with the story. The first is that Traviss continues her vendetta against the Jedi. I'm beginning to think that maybe she had a relative who was a clone in a slave army and hasn't gotten over it yet. She really hates Jedi. In the first book, it was a nice perspective that differed from the vast majority of the EU. The anti-Jedi message got stronger and stronger and in this book, they are basically evil. They don't remotely care about the clones or any innocent people. They view clones as droids, which doesn't even remotely make sense since they can sense emotions and would be able to sense that they are living beings much like anyone else. Even before they know the truth about Palpatine, the Jedi are irredeemable and corrupt to the core. There may be a few exceptions to that, but that is the opposite of how the Jedi were in every other depiction. Even if Traviss were to say that this is only giving the perspective of the clones who have been heavily influenced by Mandalorians, they would've had example after example of Jedi in the war risking their lives to save clones. They even had two of them join their group. The only thing you could say against them was their accpetance of using the clone army. Fine. Worthy of criticism. There is no universe where the Jedi accepting the clone army (just like Skirata did and Vau did and everyone else who isn't depicted as evil in this series by the way) grossly outweighs how they would fight alongside and sacrifice their safety for the sake of the clones. However, Traviss only shows the Jedi being dismissive of clones at best. It felt like bad fan fiction because it shouldn't be the polar opposite of the rest of the EU. This just shouldn't have ever been a part of canon it is so far off.
The second terrible decision Traviss made was .
There was a scene described in the book that made me shake my head. At least on one occurrence, Traviss indicates that the Jedi are aware of the 150 or so Orders for the GAR. She doesn't give any indication that I remember that Order 66 was hidden or faked in any away. So the Jedi weren't worried at all that the Chancellor had an order set up that, if the Chancellor decided, the millions of troops at his command would turn and murder all of the Jedi? The Clone Wars animated show did this infinitely better by having this be implanted unknowingly in their brains so that, when they get the order, they basically go on auto-pilot and just do it. That makes sense. How does what happens in this story gel with the movies at all? Kenobi was clearly very close with Commander Cody. Am I to now believe that in spite of the deep respect and friendship between Cody and Kenobi, Cody is willing to immediately turn and try and murder his friend after getting this order? There isn't even a hint of hesitation? It's kind of amazing to me that this got past the people in charge of continuity at LucasArts. It is also telling that Traviss didn't put much thought into it as well.
My final complaint is halfhearted, but I don't understand why Delta Squad is in the series. Maybe they are in the video game or something, but they are in it just rarely enough that I don't feel like I know the characters much at all.
Now that I'm done complaining, I did like having the events get to Revenge of the Sith and seeing the overlap between the movie and the book. One of the big shortcomings of the movie was how this humongous battle for the capitol of the galaxy isn't that momentous. This was shown better in the book where the battle lasted almost a week and included troops on the ground. Surprisngly, the book being a big soap opera didn't really bother me. I would recommend this book to people who aren't too concerned about Star Wars continuity, but hardcore fans like myself will probably find a lot to annoy you in this book.
November 15, 2024
It's clear to me that Karen Traviss' writing is just not naturally a style I'm drawn to. She does a good job with her books, they just aren't entertaining for me.
If you know the events of Star Wars, you can guess what happens in this book. It's a sad realization what will probably happen to the characters you care about, but it's still tough to read. Although i will say that Order 66 itself is only like the last 70 pages of the book, so the majority of the book is more like previous books in the series.
I've always been most strongly drawn to the Etain and Dar storyline in this series, and that hasn't changed.
Unfortunately, I just didn't love the book as a whole. I get what Traviss is trying to do with her writing, but its just not interesting to me, and I don't like the way she deals with Mandalorian lore or writes the clones.
Overall, I'll give the book a 6 out of 10. Just ok. Probably my least favorite in the series.
If you know the events of Star Wars, you can guess what happens in this book. It's a sad realization what will probably happen to the characters you care about, but it's still tough to read. Although i will say that Order 66 itself is only like the last 70 pages of the book, so the majority of the book is more like previous books in the series.
I've always been most strongly drawn to the Etain and Dar storyline in this series, and that hasn't changed.
Unfortunately, I just didn't love the book as a whole. I get what Traviss is trying to do with her writing, but its just not interesting to me, and I don't like the way she deals with Mandalorian lore or writes the clones.
Overall, I'll give the book a 6 out of 10. Just ok. Probably my least favorite in the series.
October 16, 2008
Karen Traviss’s four book series based off of the Republic Commando video game came to a close with the publication of her latest Star Wars novel, Order 66. The book is a slightly uneven affair, with a number of story lines coming to a close in a quick, complete fashion. The book is by no means a bad or uninteresting read, but it’s not the best of the four.
I came across Karen Traviss when I was in High School, when I began to read Asimov’s, a long-running Science Fiction magazine. Karen had published a couple or short stories through them, and I had found that I enjoyed them very much. When it was announced that there was to be a tie-in novel about the Republic Commando game, I wasn’t all that interested until I heard that it was Traviss who would be writing it, and the first book didn’t disappoint, introducing readers to a series of new characters and a moral element that has largely been lacking in a number of the Star Wars books that have come out recently.
Order 66 picks up where True Colors leaves off- Jedi Etain Tur-Mukan has had her child, Jusik has left the Jedi Order, Fi has been brought to Mandalor, the ARC troopers are working on infiltrating the computer systems of the Republic and Skirata is working to find a way to reverse the rapid aging in order to give the clones a full and normal life after the war is over.
One of my main concerns with the series as it’s progressed over the past couple of books is the vast complexity that they have come to. There are a number of very diverse story lines that have largely taken away from the main focus of the original novel - Delta Squad, with Niner, Atin, Darman and Fi. The cast of characters has been expanded, and that goes for the story lines as well. To some extent, this is a good thing, and it falls in with what Karen has done with her other, non-Star Wars books - they’ve become extremely rich with plots and characters, turning them into books that really make you think. In the Star Wars universe, this is a rare thing, and Order 66 stands as one of the better books in the series for this trait. On the other hand, it feels somewhat overburdened at times. The first half of the book starts off fairly slowly, and its not until the last half in which the action really picks up, where Karen shows once again that she’s one of the better writers when it comes to combat situations - Clone operations here are possibly the most realistic and logical than in any other book series, save for the X-Wing Series by Michael A Stackpole and Aaron Allston.
What also sets this, and her other Republic Commando books, apart is the care and devotion that is paid to the Clone Troopers. I’ve made this point in other reviews - the clones might be genetically the same, but Karen has expertly crafted numerous characters that are wholly different from one another in different situations and in the way that they approach problems. This comes particularly at the end, when one of the team members is left behind in a battle and presumed killed. Karen doesn’t shy away from making the characters really hurt when she needs them to be, and the book ends on somewhat of an unclear and unresolved note, which seems very fitting, given how this book ends around the time of Revenge of the Sith.
The absolute strongest point is the morality of the characters, and constant questioning of right and wrong on the part of the Clone Troopers and the Jedi and Republic that brought them into battle. The reactions of many of the Clones during the order to kill the Jedi surprised me, given where I was thinking the story was going and the attitudes of the Jedi up to that point, and it makes me re-think some elements of the movie - the clones weren’t mindlessly following their orders to kill their Generals - they had legitimate issues with the way that they were treated and used in the war, and genuinely saw the Jedi as a threat.
One of the big sticking points that I found in this was not the overall complexity, but the Mandalorian subplots that Karen has worked into the series. While it was running full tilt by the time this book came around, the plot took up a lot of the book in places, where it didn’t really seem to need to. Karen pulled it out and made it a fully-formed and well realized idea, but at points, it seems a little out of place. This was one element where I wished that the sequels were a little more in line with the first book, in that they focused a bit more on the combat actions of the Clone Commandos.
One of the interesting parts is how the issue of only a couple million Clones has been resolved, and by doing so, ties in her novel with several other pieces of Clone Wars fiction, most notably Timothy Zahn’s short stories, Hero of Cartao and his Heir to the Empire trilogy, with the use of the Spaarti cloning technology. Throughout the events of this novel, it’s clear that a vast wave of Clone Troopers, including elements of the 501st, were a much larger, quickly grown generation of Clone Troopers, coming in during the months leading up to the final battle over Coruscant. This has been a sticking point for Karen and has caused some trouble for her on message boards by irritated and annoying fans. Despite the troubles that have been caused, it is nice to see that this issue is somewhat resolved, and it is fantastic to see mention of the 501st, of which Karen is an Honorary Member, and a group that she looked at a lot in her novelization of the Clone Wars. The 501st Dune Sea Garrison is honored with a thanks in the beginning of the book.
Order 66 is a fine installment in the Republic Commando and Clone Wars series, and I’m sad to see it go. It is a rich and complex read, one that is far superior to most of the novels in the Star Wars line for its stand on moral issues, its writing and genuine care that makes me remember that these books are leaps and bounds above most of the tie-in novels that are on the market nowadays.
While the book is not a perfect read (or cover, for that matter. Side note - I’m not sure who thought that the current cover was a better one than the original, but it’s not, and should be changed back. Like right now. Ahem.) but it’s a superior one that stands out from the rest of the books out there.
(originally printed: http://jeditrilobite.wordpress.com)
I came across Karen Traviss when I was in High School, when I began to read Asimov’s, a long-running Science Fiction magazine. Karen had published a couple or short stories through them, and I had found that I enjoyed them very much. When it was announced that there was to be a tie-in novel about the Republic Commando game, I wasn’t all that interested until I heard that it was Traviss who would be writing it, and the first book didn’t disappoint, introducing readers to a series of new characters and a moral element that has largely been lacking in a number of the Star Wars books that have come out recently.
Order 66 picks up where True Colors leaves off- Jedi Etain Tur-Mukan has had her child, Jusik has left the Jedi Order, Fi has been brought to Mandalor, the ARC troopers are working on infiltrating the computer systems of the Republic and Skirata is working to find a way to reverse the rapid aging in order to give the clones a full and normal life after the war is over.
One of my main concerns with the series as it’s progressed over the past couple of books is the vast complexity that they have come to. There are a number of very diverse story lines that have largely taken away from the main focus of the original novel - Delta Squad, with Niner, Atin, Darman and Fi. The cast of characters has been expanded, and that goes for the story lines as well. To some extent, this is a good thing, and it falls in with what Karen has done with her other, non-Star Wars books - they’ve become extremely rich with plots and characters, turning them into books that really make you think. In the Star Wars universe, this is a rare thing, and Order 66 stands as one of the better books in the series for this trait. On the other hand, it feels somewhat overburdened at times. The first half of the book starts off fairly slowly, and its not until the last half in which the action really picks up, where Karen shows once again that she’s one of the better writers when it comes to combat situations - Clone operations here are possibly the most realistic and logical than in any other book series, save for the X-Wing Series by Michael A Stackpole and Aaron Allston.
What also sets this, and her other Republic Commando books, apart is the care and devotion that is paid to the Clone Troopers. I’ve made this point in other reviews - the clones might be genetically the same, but Karen has expertly crafted numerous characters that are wholly different from one another in different situations and in the way that they approach problems. This comes particularly at the end, when one of the team members is left behind in a battle and presumed killed. Karen doesn’t shy away from making the characters really hurt when she needs them to be, and the book ends on somewhat of an unclear and unresolved note, which seems very fitting, given how this book ends around the time of Revenge of the Sith.
The absolute strongest point is the morality of the characters, and constant questioning of right and wrong on the part of the Clone Troopers and the Jedi and Republic that brought them into battle. The reactions of many of the Clones during the order to kill the Jedi surprised me, given where I was thinking the story was going and the attitudes of the Jedi up to that point, and it makes me re-think some elements of the movie - the clones weren’t mindlessly following their orders to kill their Generals - they had legitimate issues with the way that they were treated and used in the war, and genuinely saw the Jedi as a threat.
One of the big sticking points that I found in this was not the overall complexity, but the Mandalorian subplots that Karen has worked into the series. While it was running full tilt by the time this book came around, the plot took up a lot of the book in places, where it didn’t really seem to need to. Karen pulled it out and made it a fully-formed and well realized idea, but at points, it seems a little out of place. This was one element where I wished that the sequels were a little more in line with the first book, in that they focused a bit more on the combat actions of the Clone Commandos.
One of the interesting parts is how the issue of only a couple million Clones has been resolved, and by doing so, ties in her novel with several other pieces of Clone Wars fiction, most notably Timothy Zahn’s short stories, Hero of Cartao and his Heir to the Empire trilogy, with the use of the Spaarti cloning technology. Throughout the events of this novel, it’s clear that a vast wave of Clone Troopers, including elements of the 501st, were a much larger, quickly grown generation of Clone Troopers, coming in during the months leading up to the final battle over Coruscant. This has been a sticking point for Karen and has caused some trouble for her on message boards by irritated and annoying fans. Despite the troubles that have been caused, it is nice to see that this issue is somewhat resolved, and it is fantastic to see mention of the 501st, of which Karen is an Honorary Member, and a group that she looked at a lot in her novelization of the Clone Wars. The 501st Dune Sea Garrison is honored with a thanks in the beginning of the book.
Order 66 is a fine installment in the Republic Commando and Clone Wars series, and I’m sad to see it go. It is a rich and complex read, one that is far superior to most of the novels in the Star Wars line for its stand on moral issues, its writing and genuine care that makes me remember that these books are leaps and bounds above most of the tie-in novels that are on the market nowadays.
While the book is not a perfect read (or cover, for that matter. Side note - I’m not sure who thought that the current cover was a better one than the original, but it’s not, and should be changed back. Like right now. Ahem.) but it’s a superior one that stands out from the rest of the books out there.
(originally printed: http://jeditrilobite.wordpress.com)
April 27, 2023
maybe RTC but we’ll see
December 5, 2024
For 2024, I decided to pick up where I left off after 2022 and reread books published between 2004 and 2011—a hodgepodge of Clone Wars, inter-trilogy, and Original Trilogy stories, plus a smattering of Old Republic Sith. This shakes out to twenty-one novels and four short stories, mainly consisting of the Republic Commando series, the Darth Bane trilogy, the Coruscant Nights trilogy, five Clone Wars books written by the Karens, and four standalone novels.
This week’s focus: the fourth book in the Republic Commando series, Order 66 by Karen Traviss.
SOME HISTORY:
Order 66 was the first and only Republic Commando novel to get a hardcover release, perhaps because Del Rey and Lucasbooks were banking on the name recognition of that infamous contingency order pulling more attention than normal. However, the first four Republic Commando books did get Science Fiction Book Club releases in two omnibus editions; Imperial Commando: 501st did not, presumably because its sequel was canceled. Order 66: A Republic Commando Novel by Karen Traviss made it to number twelve on the New York Times bestseller list for the week of October 5, 2008.
MY RECOLLECTION OF THE BOOK:
As with the rest of this series, I had never read Order 66 before. I was intrigued to do so, though, because a number of people told me that they liked the Republic Commando series up until Order 66--and since I feel like Hard Contact was the best of the bunch thus far, that made me very curious to find out why.
A BRIEF SUMMARY:
As the Clone Wars wage on, Sergeant Kal Skirata continues his efforts to prepare a better future for his clone sons and a way out from the Grand Army of the Republic. But as Skirata prepares an exit strategy, Palpatine has plans of his own brewing—leading to the unfolding of his new Galactic Empire…
THE PLOT:
Order 66 has the same problem as a lot of Star Wars books, where the blurb doesn’t match with the actual plot. The key thing you should note is that Order 66 itself only makes up a very small part of the book. My paperback copy was 467 pages, and Order 66 didn’t start until page 375 and concluded about 30 pages later.
The novel mostly consists of Kal Skirata making his preparations for when and how he’s going to pull his boys out: they’re acquiring funds and resources, and the work done by Bessany Wessen, the Treasury auditor, starts to show up on Intelligence’s radar. Bessany’s pulled to safety, Skirata realizes that they need to spring three separate people from secure facilities, and Etain finally tells Darman about their child. Skirata adopts even more boys, and those boys get married in very nonchalant Mandalorian fashion. Skirata finally sets a date for their withdrawal: 1,090 days after the Battle of Geonosis.
In the background, we have the Battle of Kashyyyk, the Battle of Coruscant, Palpatine’s abduction by General Grievous, Grievous fleeing back to Utapau, and Palpatine issuing Order 66. The remaining chapters of the book are the fallout of multiple decisions made during that time, and a lot of plot threads are left hanging for book #5.
CHARACTERS:
Oh boy were there a bunch of characters in this book. For Omega Squad, we got Darman’s viewpoint; for Delta Squad, we got Scorch’s. We continued to follow along with Bessany and Ordo and Kal Skirata and Etain and the former Jedi Bardan Jusik—and then Traviss introduced a bunch of new characters, but fortunately they weren’t added to the POV bloat.
As with the previous books, Etain irritated me more than anyone else in this story. On the plus side, she finally told Darman that they have a child, which was a plot point I took great issue with in Triple Zero and True Colors. Darman was surprisingly happy to learn about Kad’s existence, they later got married via text (apparently that’s legal for Mandalorians?), only for everything to go completely haywire towards the end. Etain continues to struggle with her feelings about the Jedi Order: she does not want them to steal her child (more about that later) but she also wants to help the clones and advocate for their welfare, so she doesn’t leave the Jedi like Jusik did. She encounters Callista and other renegade Jedi trained by Master Altis, and since they don’t follow the rules against attachment she’s interested in learning if she could coexist within their group. Etain is with Delta Squad during the Battle of Kashyyyk— a deviation from the video game, because Etain was not their commanding officer—but Kal Skirata’s Wookiee friend Enacca pulls her out and spirits her away to Coruscant. She sends a message that she’s leaving the Jedi Order, but right as she lands on Coruscant Order 66 is issued.
This is the thing that bothered me the most. Multiple characters are like “we’ll pick you up, Etain” but Etain will have none of that. Etain will walk to the rendezvous point with two lightsabers in her bag DURING ORDER 66! She thinks that they won’t detain her because she’s resigned—and I was expecting some confrontation to occur because she has two lightsabers, but no, what happened to Etain was even dumber than that. She’s walking up to a checkpoint with a bag check, and Darman and Niner and even Ordo are waiting on the other side for her, when three padawans pull their lightsabers on the clone troopers. Etain puts herself between a clone trooper and a padawan, and the padawan slices her to death. When I got to the end of this three-page chapter, I closed the book and my only thought was “Etain, you idiot.” I guess she died protecting the clones that she loved, but if that clone knew she was even a former Jedi, he would have murdered her. I suppose it’s in keeping with Etain’s character, because she was always making dumb decisions, but what a way to go!
Omega Squad updates: Fi’s replacement Corr makes a lot of snarky comments about political stuff; Atin marries his Twi’lek lady; Niner struggles with following orders as their leader, especially when that conflicts with Kal Skirata’s agenda. He only seems to go along with Skirata’s withdrawal to Mandalore because all the other Omega guys want to, but during the silly checkpoint confrontation he falls and breaks his spine. Darman stays behind with him, and as the book ends they’re both stuck on Coruscant, conscripted into Palpatine’s new Empire. I feel especially bad for Darman, who finally found out he had a son only for his wife to die and his kid end up on Mandalore while he’s trapped on Coruscant.
Delta Squad is going through some similar issues. Since we’re in Scorch’s head, we see how much the war is affecting him, and how much he’s falling apart under the constant pressure of being deployed into conflict after conflict after conflict without any break. We also see how their training under Sergeant Vau made them into a very different unit from Omega Squad, as they realize they’ve lost Sev in their withdrawal during the Battle of Kashyyyk but they all agree to pull out and leave him behind. Sev’s fate is left up in the air: is he dead? Or captured? We never find out. I thought they were going to get pulled into Order 66 on Kashyyyk, but instead we don’t see Delta Squad again until the second-to-last chapter of the book, where they’re also recalled to Coruscant and still questioning the decision they made.
We see pretty much all the Null ARC troopers in this book—one is keeping an eye on General Grievous, one is still running around sabotaging droid factories, and the rest are coming and going at will—but we’re really only in Ordo’s head. Ordo serves as Kal Skirata’s man on the ground; he’s on Coruscant, so he kills an intelligence agent trailing Bessany then marries Bessany then pulls Bessany out of her treasury job and sends her to Mandalore. He’s also involved with several of the recovery mission, where they spring Bessany’s colleague Zilka from wrongful detention, locate Kal Skirata’s daughter Ruusaan, and retrieve the Separatist Dr. Uthan during the confusion of the Battle of Coruscant. Ordo and the other Nulls definitely have some trauma surrounding their upbringing, and they’re decidedly renegade because in the end, their allegiance isn’t to the Republic but to Skirata. When Order 66 is issued, they don’t participate, but they have a decidedly cocky attitude and some of their dialogue troubled me—more on that in the Issues section.
Kal Skirata adopts even more boys (and even adopts Etain after she died), and seems to be aiming for the largest family in existence. I did like that Order 66 emphasized that Skirata is not a good or lawful guy, he just really loves the dudes under his charge. So much of what bothered me in books 2 and 3 was how Skirata was held up to be the best of the best, and while that wasn’t lessened here, I liked anyone admitting that Skirata had some bad points. Skirata has a very charismatic personality that draws people into his orbit; he finds damaged people and absorbs them into his group. That’s an admirable sentiment, but it also feels somewhat cult-like, and that’s the part that worries me.
Sergeant Vau also continues to soften up as a character, which I wasn’t crazy about. I liked the differences between him and Skirata, both as people and as trainers, but it seems like everyone who interacts with Skirata becomes more like him. They end up sounding like this hive mind where everyone thinks the same and talks the same, and I miss the variety of voices that we got in previous books because it’s very same-y now.
This book also seemed to turn Traviss’s rhetoric against the Jedi up to 11. Bardan Jusik left the Jedi Order at the end of book #3, and is now wholly sucked up into Kal Skirata’s Mandalorian world. It felt like he exchanged one stringent code for another, which doesn’t sound like the healthiest approach. Most of the characters are extremely dismissive of the Jedi, and I think that most came across in how they treated Jedi Master Zey. It seemed like Zey was truly trying to work with Skirata and was actually worried about the welfare of the clones. I don’t think he chose to be the head of Special Operations but is still trying to do it to the best of his ability, yet the amount of detest and hatred spewed about Zey isn’t balanced by the few times that someone admits he’s an okay guy.
We’re told that Jango Fett agreed to be the template for the Clone Army because only Jango’s family are strong enough to kill Jedi—where is this coming from?? I thought Jango knew nothing about Order 66??? We get little epigraphs at the beginning of each chapter where the clones are talking about the Jedi with an incredible level of disgust and hatred. I never got this sense of immense hatred towards the Jedi from the clones who served under them. I will be the first to say that the Prequel Era Jedi have distinct problems, but this seemed a bit much!
ISSUES:
My first issue with Order 66 was that this book is absolutely mistitled. Order 66 is such a small part of the book, only 30 pages total, and none of the characters carry it out. They just happen to be on Coruscant when it occurs, and Etain’s death isn’t even because of Order 66! She’s not found out as a Jedi and executed, she’s in the wrong place at the wrong time and tries to step in-between a desperate Jedi padawan and a clone trooper. More than anything, Order 66 is about the last six months of the Clone Wars, yet so little of the story is actually focused on the Wars and instead on completely unrelated things. I’m not sure why they called this book “Order 66,” other than name recognition, because you don’t get any insights into it or the reasoning behind it. It’s just an order, and most of these characters ignore that order.
My second issue was how Traviss depicted the clones’ attitude. Besides their immense hatred for any Jedi who aren’t Etain or Bardan Jusik, Ordo and the Omega Squad guys started calling non-clones and people outside of Kal Skirata’s group “mongrels.” There’s a lot of emphasis on the superiority of the clones—how they’re the best warriors, the best men with a superior genotype—and that combined with calling normal people “mongrels” gave me this weird eugenics vibe. I don’t know that I would have gone as far as denigrating normal people! I could see how some of the clones might have that viewpoint, but the fact that it went unremarked by others made me a little uncomfortable here.
Similarly, I found it upsetting that Traviss reiterated over and over how they’re hiding baby Kad because if the Jedi Order knew about him, they’d forcibly take him away from Etain and Kal Skirata. That’s not how the prequel Jedi Order worked! I think if the Jedi found out that Etain had a relationship with a clone commando and then a child, they’d ask her to leave the Jedi Order, and it’d be her choice whether she wanted her child to be a Jedi. That’s clearly not her choice, so they wouldn’t steal her child from her! As in the previous books, Traviss seems to have this misconception that the Jedi steal children when most everything we’ve seen points to the contrary. I could buy Etain concealing her child because she doesn’t want to leave the Jedi Order (like Corran Horn’s grandad Nejaa Halcyon), but the Jedi are not going to abduct her baby. Absolutely not!
But my biggest problem with Order 66 was that the book just wasn’t structured well. Part of that ties into my feelings of this book being mistitled, but it also felt like the majority of the book was Kal Skirata’s preparations and then character introductions and development, with the meat of the previous books (the Clone Wars battles) falling by the wayside. The little bits of the Clone Wars we saw were interesting and exciting, but because Traviss has introduced so many characters and relationships to this series, I felt like Order 66 got bogged down by interpersonal stuff. That’s probably why Hard Contact remains my favorite, because it felt lean and fast-paced in comparison to the books that followed. For Order 66, the end is solely focused on setting up plotlines for the sequel and that definitely affected the pace for me.
IN CONCLUSION:
Order 66 continues the adventures of Kal Skirata and his many clone lads. Very little of the book involves the actual Clone Wars, though, as most of the plot is Skirata’s personal plan about getting his boys out at the chosen time. I think if you're very invested in these characters, there's a lot of developments here, but I also think it was a mistake to title this “Order 66.” The contingency order is such a small part of the book, and mainly seemed like an excuse to deal with Etain. Additionally, not many things are concluded at the end, and there are a lot of plot threads left dangling for book number five, Imperial Commando: 501st.
Next up: a standalone novel by Matthew Stover set a year after Return of the Jedi, Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor.
YouTube review: https://youtu.be/Yd2YWLvJV3s
This week’s focus: the fourth book in the Republic Commando series, Order 66 by Karen Traviss.
SOME HISTORY:
Order 66 was the first and only Republic Commando novel to get a hardcover release, perhaps because Del Rey and Lucasbooks were banking on the name recognition of that infamous contingency order pulling more attention than normal. However, the first four Republic Commando books did get Science Fiction Book Club releases in two omnibus editions; Imperial Commando: 501st did not, presumably because its sequel was canceled. Order 66: A Republic Commando Novel by Karen Traviss made it to number twelve on the New York Times bestseller list for the week of October 5, 2008.
MY RECOLLECTION OF THE BOOK:
As with the rest of this series, I had never read Order 66 before. I was intrigued to do so, though, because a number of people told me that they liked the Republic Commando series up until Order 66--and since I feel like Hard Contact was the best of the bunch thus far, that made me very curious to find out why.
A BRIEF SUMMARY:
As the Clone Wars wage on, Sergeant Kal Skirata continues his efforts to prepare a better future for his clone sons and a way out from the Grand Army of the Republic. But as Skirata prepares an exit strategy, Palpatine has plans of his own brewing—leading to the unfolding of his new Galactic Empire…
THE PLOT:
Order 66 has the same problem as a lot of Star Wars books, where the blurb doesn’t match with the actual plot. The key thing you should note is that Order 66 itself only makes up a very small part of the book. My paperback copy was 467 pages, and Order 66 didn’t start until page 375 and concluded about 30 pages later.
The novel mostly consists of Kal Skirata making his preparations for when and how he’s going to pull his boys out: they’re acquiring funds and resources, and the work done by Bessany Wessen, the Treasury auditor, starts to show up on Intelligence’s radar. Bessany’s pulled to safety, Skirata realizes that they need to spring three separate people from secure facilities, and Etain finally tells Darman about their child. Skirata adopts even more boys, and those boys get married in very nonchalant Mandalorian fashion. Skirata finally sets a date for their withdrawal: 1,090 days after the Battle of Geonosis.
In the background, we have the Battle of Kashyyyk, the Battle of Coruscant, Palpatine’s abduction by General Grievous, Grievous fleeing back to Utapau, and Palpatine issuing Order 66. The remaining chapters of the book are the fallout of multiple decisions made during that time, and a lot of plot threads are left hanging for book #5.
CHARACTERS:
Oh boy were there a bunch of characters in this book. For Omega Squad, we got Darman’s viewpoint; for Delta Squad, we got Scorch’s. We continued to follow along with Bessany and Ordo and Kal Skirata and Etain and the former Jedi Bardan Jusik—and then Traviss introduced a bunch of new characters, but fortunately they weren’t added to the POV bloat.
As with the previous books, Etain irritated me more than anyone else in this story. On the plus side, she finally told Darman that they have a child, which was a plot point I took great issue with in Triple Zero and True Colors. Darman was surprisingly happy to learn about Kad’s existence, they later got married via text (apparently that’s legal for Mandalorians?), only for everything to go completely haywire towards the end. Etain continues to struggle with her feelings about the Jedi Order: she does not want them to steal her child (more about that later) but she also wants to help the clones and advocate for their welfare, so she doesn’t leave the Jedi like Jusik did. She encounters Callista and other renegade Jedi trained by Master Altis, and since they don’t follow the rules against attachment she’s interested in learning if she could coexist within their group. Etain is with Delta Squad during the Battle of Kashyyyk— a deviation from the video game, because Etain was not their commanding officer—but Kal Skirata’s Wookiee friend Enacca pulls her out and spirits her away to Coruscant. She sends a message that she’s leaving the Jedi Order, but right as she lands on Coruscant Order 66 is issued.
This is the thing that bothered me the most. Multiple characters are like “we’ll pick you up, Etain” but Etain will have none of that. Etain will walk to the rendezvous point with two lightsabers in her bag DURING ORDER 66! She thinks that they won’t detain her because she’s resigned—and I was expecting some confrontation to occur because she has two lightsabers, but no, what happened to Etain was even dumber than that. She’s walking up to a checkpoint with a bag check, and Darman and Niner and even Ordo are waiting on the other side for her, when three padawans pull their lightsabers on the clone troopers. Etain puts herself between a clone trooper and a padawan, and the padawan slices her to death. When I got to the end of this three-page chapter, I closed the book and my only thought was “Etain, you idiot.” I guess she died protecting the clones that she loved, but if that clone knew she was even a former Jedi, he would have murdered her. I suppose it’s in keeping with Etain’s character, because she was always making dumb decisions, but what a way to go!
Omega Squad updates: Fi’s replacement Corr makes a lot of snarky comments about political stuff; Atin marries his Twi’lek lady; Niner struggles with following orders as their leader, especially when that conflicts with Kal Skirata’s agenda. He only seems to go along with Skirata’s withdrawal to Mandalore because all the other Omega guys want to, but during the silly checkpoint confrontation he falls and breaks his spine. Darman stays behind with him, and as the book ends they’re both stuck on Coruscant, conscripted into Palpatine’s new Empire. I feel especially bad for Darman, who finally found out he had a son only for his wife to die and his kid end up on Mandalore while he’s trapped on Coruscant.
Delta Squad is going through some similar issues. Since we’re in Scorch’s head, we see how much the war is affecting him, and how much he’s falling apart under the constant pressure of being deployed into conflict after conflict after conflict without any break. We also see how their training under Sergeant Vau made them into a very different unit from Omega Squad, as they realize they’ve lost Sev in their withdrawal during the Battle of Kashyyyk but they all agree to pull out and leave him behind. Sev’s fate is left up in the air: is he dead? Or captured? We never find out. I thought they were going to get pulled into Order 66 on Kashyyyk, but instead we don’t see Delta Squad again until the second-to-last chapter of the book, where they’re also recalled to Coruscant and still questioning the decision they made.
We see pretty much all the Null ARC troopers in this book—one is keeping an eye on General Grievous, one is still running around sabotaging droid factories, and the rest are coming and going at will—but we’re really only in Ordo’s head. Ordo serves as Kal Skirata’s man on the ground; he’s on Coruscant, so he kills an intelligence agent trailing Bessany then marries Bessany then pulls Bessany out of her treasury job and sends her to Mandalore. He’s also involved with several of the recovery mission, where they spring Bessany’s colleague Zilka from wrongful detention, locate Kal Skirata’s daughter Ruusaan, and retrieve the Separatist Dr. Uthan during the confusion of the Battle of Coruscant. Ordo and the other Nulls definitely have some trauma surrounding their upbringing, and they’re decidedly renegade because in the end, their allegiance isn’t to the Republic but to Skirata. When Order 66 is issued, they don’t participate, but they have a decidedly cocky attitude and some of their dialogue troubled me—more on that in the Issues section.
Kal Skirata adopts even more boys (and even adopts Etain after she died), and seems to be aiming for the largest family in existence. I did like that Order 66 emphasized that Skirata is not a good or lawful guy, he just really loves the dudes under his charge. So much of what bothered me in books 2 and 3 was how Skirata was held up to be the best of the best, and while that wasn’t lessened here, I liked anyone admitting that Skirata had some bad points. Skirata has a very charismatic personality that draws people into his orbit; he finds damaged people and absorbs them into his group. That’s an admirable sentiment, but it also feels somewhat cult-like, and that’s the part that worries me.
Sergeant Vau also continues to soften up as a character, which I wasn’t crazy about. I liked the differences between him and Skirata, both as people and as trainers, but it seems like everyone who interacts with Skirata becomes more like him. They end up sounding like this hive mind where everyone thinks the same and talks the same, and I miss the variety of voices that we got in previous books because it’s very same-y now.
This book also seemed to turn Traviss’s rhetoric against the Jedi up to 11. Bardan Jusik left the Jedi Order at the end of book #3, and is now wholly sucked up into Kal Skirata’s Mandalorian world. It felt like he exchanged one stringent code for another, which doesn’t sound like the healthiest approach. Most of the characters are extremely dismissive of the Jedi, and I think that most came across in how they treated Jedi Master Zey. It seemed like Zey was truly trying to work with Skirata and was actually worried about the welfare of the clones. I don’t think he chose to be the head of Special Operations but is still trying to do it to the best of his ability, yet the amount of detest and hatred spewed about Zey isn’t balanced by the few times that someone admits he’s an okay guy.
We’re told that Jango Fett agreed to be the template for the Clone Army because only Jango’s family are strong enough to kill Jedi—where is this coming from?? I thought Jango knew nothing about Order 66??? We get little epigraphs at the beginning of each chapter where the clones are talking about the Jedi with an incredible level of disgust and hatred. I never got this sense of immense hatred towards the Jedi from the clones who served under them. I will be the first to say that the Prequel Era Jedi have distinct problems, but this seemed a bit much!
ISSUES:
My first issue with Order 66 was that this book is absolutely mistitled. Order 66 is such a small part of the book, only 30 pages total, and none of the characters carry it out. They just happen to be on Coruscant when it occurs, and Etain’s death isn’t even because of Order 66! She’s not found out as a Jedi and executed, she’s in the wrong place at the wrong time and tries to step in-between a desperate Jedi padawan and a clone trooper. More than anything, Order 66 is about the last six months of the Clone Wars, yet so little of the story is actually focused on the Wars and instead on completely unrelated things. I’m not sure why they called this book “Order 66,” other than name recognition, because you don’t get any insights into it or the reasoning behind it. It’s just an order, and most of these characters ignore that order.
My second issue was how Traviss depicted the clones’ attitude. Besides their immense hatred for any Jedi who aren’t Etain or Bardan Jusik, Ordo and the Omega Squad guys started calling non-clones and people outside of Kal Skirata’s group “mongrels.” There’s a lot of emphasis on the superiority of the clones—how they’re the best warriors, the best men with a superior genotype—and that combined with calling normal people “mongrels” gave me this weird eugenics vibe. I don’t know that I would have gone as far as denigrating normal people! I could see how some of the clones might have that viewpoint, but the fact that it went unremarked by others made me a little uncomfortable here.
Similarly, I found it upsetting that Traviss reiterated over and over how they’re hiding baby Kad because if the Jedi Order knew about him, they’d forcibly take him away from Etain and Kal Skirata. That’s not how the prequel Jedi Order worked! I think if the Jedi found out that Etain had a relationship with a clone commando and then a child, they’d ask her to leave the Jedi Order, and it’d be her choice whether she wanted her child to be a Jedi. That’s clearly not her choice, so they wouldn’t steal her child from her! As in the previous books, Traviss seems to have this misconception that the Jedi steal children when most everything we’ve seen points to the contrary. I could buy Etain concealing her child because she doesn’t want to leave the Jedi Order (like Corran Horn’s grandad Nejaa Halcyon), but the Jedi are not going to abduct her baby. Absolutely not!
But my biggest problem with Order 66 was that the book just wasn’t structured well. Part of that ties into my feelings of this book being mistitled, but it also felt like the majority of the book was Kal Skirata’s preparations and then character introductions and development, with the meat of the previous books (the Clone Wars battles) falling by the wayside. The little bits of the Clone Wars we saw were interesting and exciting, but because Traviss has introduced so many characters and relationships to this series, I felt like Order 66 got bogged down by interpersonal stuff. That’s probably why Hard Contact remains my favorite, because it felt lean and fast-paced in comparison to the books that followed. For Order 66, the end is solely focused on setting up plotlines for the sequel and that definitely affected the pace for me.
IN CONCLUSION:
Order 66 continues the adventures of Kal Skirata and his many clone lads. Very little of the book involves the actual Clone Wars, though, as most of the plot is Skirata’s personal plan about getting his boys out at the chosen time. I think if you're very invested in these characters, there's a lot of developments here, but I also think it was a mistake to title this “Order 66.” The contingency order is such a small part of the book, and mainly seemed like an excuse to deal with Etain. Additionally, not many things are concluded at the end, and there are a lot of plot threads left dangling for book number five, Imperial Commando: 501st.
Next up: a standalone novel by Matthew Stover set a year after Return of the Jedi, Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor.
YouTube review: https://youtu.be/Yd2YWLvJV3s
October 30, 2019
I don't give 3 stars because this is a mediocre entry in the series, or because I disliked it. I give it three stars because, well, Traviss needed a better editor. Her worst habits are on full display in this climactic and technically final installment of the Republic Commando Legends series (before everything abruptly ended with the first volume of Imperial Commando).
Delta and omega squads continue to grapple with their duties as clone troopers and fighting for their own independence, while Skirata works and uses his connections to make a channel for clone deserters in the war. The plot is quite episodic in nature, as well, with an early skirmish involving Omega squad, several prison breaks for various reasons, and the final stretch of the book, where Order 66 is commanded and all the suspicion, paranoia, and anxiety built up over the first three books explodes violently.
As always, the story is about how a huge, intergalactic war affects a small handful of characters who don't matter much in the greater Legends mythos, and that continues to be its biggest strength. Traviss shows so much nuance to how these essentially child soldiers would react when given a chance at a freedom they never knew, and how the morality behind the prequels is far, far more complex than Lucas ever realized. In fact, Traviss puts stuff in here that informs some of the logical errors in the prequels pretty well. It's not enough to redeem them, but still, good for her for trying to make sense of the hot mess that was that trilogy. The emotional points really land with an impact, with a finale that is desperate, anxious, amd heartbreaking. Yes, it's melodramatic, but it's about clones trying to find love and freedom in a universe with space wizards that wield laser swords. It kind of has to be melodramatic. It paints a morally complex picture of war and how it both brings people together and tears them apart.
On the other hand, Traviss needed an editor in the worst kind of way. The previous two books were long winded, but here it feels even more so, with my paperback copy clocking in at 467 pages. It's simply far too long, and I say that because each chapter has numerous passages reminding us of how Kal Skirata (in what continues to be one of the best and worst parts of this series) would do anything for his family, and how the rag tag skirata clan really are a diverse bunch, and how the clones are all incredible individuals and not the mindless drones think them to be, and how everyone worships skirata and how skirata is constantly being down on himself for not being able to do more, and how the Jedi are scum and how...
You get the point.
This book could have probably used about 75-100 less pages and still been effective and powerful. It's clear that traviss has an affinity for her cast. And you likely will too. The major players are well drawn. I just wish she didn't need to remind us on almost every single page about all the stuff I mentioned above.
Sad I only got one more in this series.
Delta and omega squads continue to grapple with their duties as clone troopers and fighting for their own independence, while Skirata works and uses his connections to make a channel for clone deserters in the war. The plot is quite episodic in nature, as well, with an early skirmish involving Omega squad, several prison breaks for various reasons, and the final stretch of the book, where Order 66 is commanded and all the suspicion, paranoia, and anxiety built up over the first three books explodes violently.
As always, the story is about how a huge, intergalactic war affects a small handful of characters who don't matter much in the greater Legends mythos, and that continues to be its biggest strength. Traviss shows so much nuance to how these essentially child soldiers would react when given a chance at a freedom they never knew, and how the morality behind the prequels is far, far more complex than Lucas ever realized. In fact, Traviss puts stuff in here that informs some of the logical errors in the prequels pretty well. It's not enough to redeem them, but still, good for her for trying to make sense of the hot mess that was that trilogy. The emotional points really land with an impact, with a finale that is desperate, anxious, amd heartbreaking. Yes, it's melodramatic, but it's about clones trying to find love and freedom in a universe with space wizards that wield laser swords. It kind of has to be melodramatic. It paints a morally complex picture of war and how it both brings people together and tears them apart.
On the other hand, Traviss needed an editor in the worst kind of way. The previous two books were long winded, but here it feels even more so, with my paperback copy clocking in at 467 pages. It's simply far too long, and I say that because each chapter has numerous passages reminding us of how Kal Skirata (in what continues to be one of the best and worst parts of this series) would do anything for his family, and how the rag tag skirata clan really are a diverse bunch, and how the clones are all incredible individuals and not the mindless drones think them to be, and how everyone worships skirata and how skirata is constantly being down on himself for not being able to do more, and how the Jedi are scum and how...
You get the point.
This book could have probably used about 75-100 less pages and still been effective and powerful. It's clear that traviss has an affinity for her cast. And you likely will too. The major players are well drawn. I just wish she didn't need to remind us on almost every single page about all the stuff I mentioned above.
Sad I only got one more in this series.
November 7, 2020
This isn't the way.
The clone-troopers of the Star Wars prequels were, intentionally or not, never given much characterization in the films. As a result they came across as automatons, and not much different than the droid army they were fighting against. Traviss' Republic Commando series attempted to "humanize" the clone troopers and did a reasonably solid job over the first three books though the characterizations tended to fall in the old-timey WWII squad movie archetypes. A couple clones get married and one has a child (with a Jedi) so there are some intriguing possibilities here but never really coalesce.
The biggest dehumanizing event for the clones in the films was Palpatine's "Order 66" which resulted in the clones suddenly and IMMEDIATELY killing any and all Jedi they could on the premise that the Jedi were attempting a coup (see Mace Windu). This is portrayed in the film as a near robotic act by the clones in several scenes. This is a problem for Traviss in how she has to deal with this framework.
Unfortunately, the buildup to the actual "Order 66" takes FAR too long with very little plot movement. Sergeant Kal Skirata tries to secure a way out of the war and Army for his adopted children (the clones he trained) as well as tries to find a way to slow their genetically modified aging process to give them a more normal lifespan. As concepts, these are intriguing character motivations but they never find a workable or interesting ways to be developed. It's a lot of random Soldiering and random Soldier-ish "banter" (with far far too much Mandalorian foreign language slang in there to be frustrating and distracting).
When we FINALLY get to the Order 66, while it's the most interesting element of the book, it's over far too quickly. The clones treat it as "just another order" which, given how many Jedi the clones personally served with, makes this sudden shift to "well, I guess i gotta kill you now" unsatisfying to say the least. A more realistic response would have been for the clones to be a bit more dubious of the coup claims at least with respect to the individual Jedi that they were serving with. Instead, the order gets issued, the clones shrug, and start blasting. The only conflict with the order is entirely internal to the Clone that married a Jedi. Otherwise it's business as usual. A little denouement at the end about "remembering the fallen" and we're done. Ok.
Overall, the prequel lore tends to uncover the paucity of good stories within the Star Wars Universe when it's tied to the events of the films. The success of the Mandalorian tv show became so much more enjoyable because it really disengaged from the whole Jedi vs Empire nonsense.
The clone-troopers of the Star Wars prequels were, intentionally or not, never given much characterization in the films. As a result they came across as automatons, and not much different than the droid army they were fighting against. Traviss' Republic Commando series attempted to "humanize" the clone troopers and did a reasonably solid job over the first three books though the characterizations tended to fall in the old-timey WWII squad movie archetypes. A couple clones get married and one has a child (with a Jedi) so there are some intriguing possibilities here but never really coalesce.
The biggest dehumanizing event for the clones in the films was Palpatine's "Order 66" which resulted in the clones suddenly and IMMEDIATELY killing any and all Jedi they could on the premise that the Jedi were attempting a coup (see Mace Windu). This is portrayed in the film as a near robotic act by the clones in several scenes. This is a problem for Traviss in how she has to deal with this framework.
Unfortunately, the buildup to the actual "Order 66" takes FAR too long with very little plot movement. Sergeant Kal Skirata tries to secure a way out of the war and Army for his adopted children (the clones he trained) as well as tries to find a way to slow their genetically modified aging process to give them a more normal lifespan. As concepts, these are intriguing character motivations but they never find a workable or interesting ways to be developed. It's a lot of random Soldiering and random Soldier-ish "banter" (with far far too much Mandalorian foreign language slang in there to be frustrating and distracting).
When we FINALLY get to the Order 66, while it's the most interesting element of the book, it's over far too quickly. The clones treat it as "just another order" which, given how many Jedi the clones personally served with, makes this sudden shift to "well, I guess i gotta kill you now" unsatisfying to say the least. A more realistic response would have been for the clones to be a bit more dubious of the coup claims at least with respect to the individual Jedi that they were serving with. Instead, the order gets issued, the clones shrug, and start blasting. The only conflict with the order is entirely internal to the Clone that married a Jedi. Otherwise it's business as usual. A little denouement at the end about "remembering the fallen" and we're done. Ok.
Overall, the prequel lore tends to uncover the paucity of good stories within the Star Wars Universe when it's tied to the events of the films. The success of the Mandalorian tv show became so much more enjoyable because it really disengaged from the whole Jedi vs Empire nonsense.
November 24, 2015
Traviss's Republic Commando novels are excellent, and Order 66 is the culmination of her serialized story. With some discussion among friends recently about Jedi-as-bad-guys, I wanted to go back to the foundation: Traviss makes the case at length, in the demi-canon that was the Extended Universe, that Order 66, for the clone troops to kill all the Jedi, was not only a lawful order but largely a moral one.
Traviss's Jedi knowingly command a slave army. They're complicit in the treatment of human beings - the clones - as disposable property. They never ask the key questions as to how the army came about. And, Traviss argues that the reason they never noticed that the Chancellor was Sith was because they'd so fallen from the light side of the Force they were blind to any difference.
The story of these novels is primarily one of a Mandalorian training sergeant coming to see the clones as not just fellow humans, but as family, and engineering a subtle and extensive con to rescue his trainees - the first generation Null troops and the more individualistic commando squads - from the ongoing war. His clones are people, as distinct as any band of brothers. Some fall in love, some self-destruct, some are clowns, scholars, fatalists, nihilists.
The climax of the novel is the issuance of Order 66. Here, unlike in canon, there's no "command chips" implanted in the clones turning them into automata at the proper signal. There's just a lawfully-issued order from the commander in chief in a time of crisis. Soldiers obey orders - and few Jedi have won sufficient loyalty for their troops to look the other way. A few do, though; one of my favorite scenes is of a rogue Jedi who's just married a clone trooper trying to sneak out of a cop diner, to find her way barred - until the army patrol has passed out of sight.
Traviss also created the Mandalorians as a rich, vivid, and believable culture, unfortunately brutally (if not explicitly maliciously) jossed by the Clone Wars animated series (the Duchess of Mandalore? Really?!). Her Mandalorians may not be canon, but they live on in a good bit of the lore and language of the Star Wars MMO, and especially in roleplay there.
They deserve to - and you may come to believe that the Jedi Order deserved its fate as well.
Traviss's Jedi knowingly command a slave army. They're complicit in the treatment of human beings - the clones - as disposable property. They never ask the key questions as to how the army came about. And, Traviss argues that the reason they never noticed that the Chancellor was Sith was because they'd so fallen from the light side of the Force they were blind to any difference.
The story of these novels is primarily one of a Mandalorian training sergeant coming to see the clones as not just fellow humans, but as family, and engineering a subtle and extensive con to rescue his trainees - the first generation Null troops and the more individualistic commando squads - from the ongoing war. His clones are people, as distinct as any band of brothers. Some fall in love, some self-destruct, some are clowns, scholars, fatalists, nihilists.
The climax of the novel is the issuance of Order 66. Here, unlike in canon, there's no "command chips" implanted in the clones turning them into automata at the proper signal. There's just a lawfully-issued order from the commander in chief in a time of crisis. Soldiers obey orders - and few Jedi have won sufficient loyalty for their troops to look the other way. A few do, though; one of my favorite scenes is of a rogue Jedi who's just married a clone trooper trying to sneak out of a cop diner, to find her way barred - until the army patrol has passed out of sight.
Traviss also created the Mandalorians as a rich, vivid, and believable culture, unfortunately brutally (if not explicitly maliciously) jossed by the Clone Wars animated series (the Duchess of Mandalore? Really?!). Her Mandalorians may not be canon, but they live on in a good bit of the lore and language of the Star Wars MMO, and especially in roleplay there.
They deserve to - and you may come to believe that the Jedi Order deserved its fate as well.
April 3, 2015
OH NO!!!!! Order 66??!!! That's the order given from the emperor to all clones to . But he Ahhh! This plot is SO complex and seductive and incredible--especially when that he can't believe it!!! OH...! You'll just have to read it and the first three books to find out. It's just .
October 2, 2008
Fitting climax to the series, but … but the book's climax—while fitting and appropriate—was not well told. Hard to say more without spoiling it, but I was very dissatisfied with how Traviss handled what was perhaps the most important scene of the book--no, her whole Commando series. It simply wasn't well done.
On the other hand, this book's overall story and storytelling were good. Seeing Jedi from the grunt/clone/Mandalorian respective is a refreshing change from the hero-worship pervades much Star Wars literature. It's not that it's necessarily right; it's just a welcome balance.
Obviously not the last in this particular thread, Order 66 sets the hook for more.
On the other hand, this book's overall story and storytelling were good. Seeing Jedi from the grunt/clone/Mandalorian respective is a refreshing change from the hero-worship pervades much Star Wars literature. It's not that it's necessarily right; it's just a welcome balance.
Obviously not the last in this particular thread, Order 66 sets the hook for more.
April 7, 2010
I am absolutely astounded by how interesting Karen Traviss makes these books. I like the occasional military book, but these I relish. As there are still many things to resolve, I hope that another one is in the works.
November 4, 2022
The fourth entry in the Republic Commando series is an interesting one. I can’t help but feel pretty disappointed, but at the same time there were also things I absolutely loved.
As in the first three books in the series, I think the characters and their interactions really shine in this book. Kal and Darman, as usual for me, are the two standouts. I also enjoyed the other members of Omega Squad and Delta Squad (though something about Delta seems off compared to their portrayal in the video game, at least to me), along with the other characters. I also really enjoyed the continued emphasis on Mandalorian culture, which is just fascinating to learn about. I know the portrayal of the Mandalorians in Legends vs current canon is a pretty controversial topic within the Legends community, and honestly I do prefer the Legends version. They’re super interesting. I also think that the parts involving and following the issuing of Order 66 were excellently handled, along with the tie-in to the later stages of the Republic Commando video game, which immediately precedes the Jedi Purge. There is some fantastic stuff here for sure.
Unfortunately, I also had a lot of issues with this entry—the main one being that I found a lot of it just uninteresting. The characters and their interactions are great for sure, but the plot surrounding them just didn’t grab me until Order 66 happened. Tying into that, I also think Order 66 should’ve occurred much earlier. This is for two reasons: 1) it’s the most engaging part of the book for me plot-wise, and 2) the events of and following Order 66 only occupy the last 15% or so of the book. For these reasons, in addition to the fact that the book is literally called Order 66, I think those events should’ve played a much larger and more expanded role.
Overall my thoughts on this one are mixed but generally still decently positive. It is definitely my least favorite in the series so far, but it does have its moments. The final parts of the book just about make up for the more “meh” parts of the rest, which certainly helps. I am curious to see where the story will go in the final entry, Imperial Commando: 501st.
Rating: 7/10
As in the first three books in the series, I think the characters and their interactions really shine in this book. Kal and Darman, as usual for me, are the two standouts. I also enjoyed the other members of Omega Squad and Delta Squad (though something about Delta seems off compared to their portrayal in the video game, at least to me), along with the other characters. I also really enjoyed the continued emphasis on Mandalorian culture, which is just fascinating to learn about. I know the portrayal of the Mandalorians in Legends vs current canon is a pretty controversial topic within the Legends community, and honestly I do prefer the Legends version. They’re super interesting. I also think that the parts involving and following the issuing of Order 66 were excellently handled, along with the tie-in to the later stages of the Republic Commando video game, which immediately precedes the Jedi Purge. There is some fantastic stuff here for sure.
Unfortunately, I also had a lot of issues with this entry—the main one being that I found a lot of it just uninteresting. The characters and their interactions are great for sure, but the plot surrounding them just didn’t grab me until Order 66 happened. Tying into that, I also think Order 66 should’ve occurred much earlier. This is for two reasons: 1) it’s the most engaging part of the book for me plot-wise, and 2) the events of and following Order 66 only occupy the last 15% or so of the book. For these reasons, in addition to the fact that the book is literally called Order 66, I think those events should’ve played a much larger and more expanded role.
Overall my thoughts on this one are mixed but generally still decently positive. It is definitely my least favorite in the series so far, but it does have its moments. The final parts of the book just about make up for the more “meh” parts of the rest, which certainly helps. I am curious to see where the story will go in the final entry, Imperial Commando: 501st.
Rating: 7/10
February 15, 2023
I loved hearing the story behind Order 66 from an outside perspective (outside of the main Star Wars characters, that is).
This is a story of tough choices, blurring the lines between the light and dark side, and a lot of heartbreak.
I eventually want to read all of the Republic Commando series, but this was the first one I read and loved it. Another thing I found very interesting is how they don't portray the Jedi as the typical heroes, the knights in shining armor, so to speak. Instead, in these books you see the Jedi more as high-minded, grandiose hypocrites (with the exception of a few), which I think is an accurate portrayal of most of them during the clone war era.
This is a story of tough choices, blurring the lines between the light and dark side, and a lot of heartbreak.
I eventually want to read all of the Republic Commando series, but this was the first one I read and loved it. Another thing I found very interesting is how they don't portray the Jedi as the typical heroes, the knights in shining armor, so to speak. Instead, in these books you see the Jedi more as high-minded, grandiose hypocrites (with the exception of a few), which I think is an accurate portrayal of most of them during the clone war era.
May 18, 2025
pages 1-300 were some of the best I've ever read. unfortunately after that it suffered some brief pacing issues. then it delivered one of the single worst events I've ever read about. im not kidding when I say that pretty much anything else would have been better. one singular page ruined a near perfect book, with the events and reactions that were tied to it.
fans talk about revan being near perfect for 300 pages, then ruining everything at the very end. this story felt remarkably similar. otherwise, I've taken issue with the entire series tendency to provide a very opinionated view on the jedi, republic, ect. and wish we could see some other viewpoints. not just zey, who's depicted as the bad guy for not agreeing with them constantly.
fans talk about revan being near perfect for 300 pages, then ruining everything at the very end. this story felt remarkably similar. otherwise, I've taken issue with the entire series tendency to provide a very opinionated view on the jedi, republic, ect. and wish we could see some other viewpoints. not just zey, who's depicted as the bad guy for not agreeing with them constantly.
August 22, 2021
Oof...😢
I don't remember the last time a book made me cry so hard and long. I don't think Order 66 will ever become less painful and the way Traviss wrote it was heart-wrenching. Not sure if I'll ever recover from that one.
I don't remember the last time a book made me cry so hard and long. I don't think Order 66 will ever become less painful and the way Traviss wrote it was heart-wrenching. Not sure if I'll ever recover from that one.
August 5, 2018
Star Wars Legends Project #166
Background: Order 66 was written by Karen Traviss. It was published in September 2008. This is the 4th book in Traviss's Republic Commando series. Her other Star Wars books include 3 of the Legacy of the Force novels.
Order 66 is set during the weeks leading up to and immediately following the Battle of Coruscant, 19 years before the Battle of Yavin, approximately a year and a half after the previous book, True Colors (my review). The book features all of the growing cast of series regulars: Omega and Delta Squads, Kal Skirata, Bardan Jusik, Etain Tur-Mukan, Besany Wennen, the Null-ARCs, etc. The book takes place mostly on Coruscant, Mandalore, and Kashyyyk.
Summary: As the Clone Wars reach their climax, Kal Skirata's desperate search for a cure to the clone's rapid aging continues to come up empty. His plans to provide a sanctuary for any clone who wishes to desert the Grand Army of the Republic, however, are nearly complete. His first priority is the safety of Clan Skirata, his growing family of clone "sons," rogue Jedi, and the other misfits they've picked up along the way. But even Kal and his boys in special ops can't plan for everything, and the war is about to come home, first in a massive attack on Coruscant itself, and then with a terrifying galaxy-wide order that the clones may have no choice but to obey.
Review: This series continues to be hit or miss with me. There's no denying that Traviss is a good writer with a particular talent for creating and developing characters, but this series still feels self-indulgent in all the wrong ways. The plot spins its wheels for chapter after chapter as Traviss catches us up on what the now couple dozen important characters have been up to since we last saw them . . . And then she leaves them sitting in a holding pattern for awhile longer while we wait for the inevitable encroachment of major events. The characters don't know what's barreling down on them, of course (well, mostly, but more on that in a minute), but we could hardly help but know and makes the first half of the novel drag. Also, this is the third novel in a row to devote a significant percentage of its length to the Battle of Coruscant, and although I actually really enjoyed reading it from the clones' perspective, it's getting a bit overdone by this point.
A big part of what drains the book of dramatic tension is that the characters, particularly the Null-ARCs, come off as omnipotent and omniscient in every way that matters. Part of this is Traviss's wry commentary on how George Lucas has written Palpatine's scheming in a way that requires everyone in the galaxy to be kind of blind and stupid, but she overplays her hand by making her characters the only smart people in the galaxy and it gets old hearing how they run circles around everyone else with no effort at all. There's no dramatic tension when there's no credible threat from anyone. There is one brief moment where it looks like someone might be onto them, but literally everything is already set up to nullify the threat almost before they know it exists. There's another moment later in the book where something is laid out so neatly for them that I was certain it would turn out to be a trap, revealing that Palpatine was aware of them after all, and introducing some real danger and real stakes into the story. But no, it was just another walk in the park for Clan Skirata.
Everything goes great for them and they always land on their feet . . . except for when they suddenly don't. But because they're so uber at everything all the time, when things goes radically sideways near the end of the novel, it can only be because of a monumentally stupid and unlikely chain of events. And ultimately that's pretty unsatisfying, too. There's plenty to like about this, particularly if you like some or all of the characters, but it left a bad taste in my mouth.
C+
Background: Order 66 was written by Karen Traviss. It was published in September 2008. This is the 4th book in Traviss's Republic Commando series. Her other Star Wars books include 3 of the Legacy of the Force novels.
Order 66 is set during the weeks leading up to and immediately following the Battle of Coruscant, 19 years before the Battle of Yavin, approximately a year and a half after the previous book, True Colors (my review). The book features all of the growing cast of series regulars: Omega and Delta Squads, Kal Skirata, Bardan Jusik, Etain Tur-Mukan, Besany Wennen, the Null-ARCs, etc. The book takes place mostly on Coruscant, Mandalore, and Kashyyyk.
Summary: As the Clone Wars reach their climax, Kal Skirata's desperate search for a cure to the clone's rapid aging continues to come up empty. His plans to provide a sanctuary for any clone who wishes to desert the Grand Army of the Republic, however, are nearly complete. His first priority is the safety of Clan Skirata, his growing family of clone "sons," rogue Jedi, and the other misfits they've picked up along the way. But even Kal and his boys in special ops can't plan for everything, and the war is about to come home, first in a massive attack on Coruscant itself, and then with a terrifying galaxy-wide order that the clones may have no choice but to obey.
Review: This series continues to be hit or miss with me. There's no denying that Traviss is a good writer with a particular talent for creating and developing characters, but this series still feels self-indulgent in all the wrong ways. The plot spins its wheels for chapter after chapter as Traviss catches us up on what the now couple dozen important characters have been up to since we last saw them . . . And then she leaves them sitting in a holding pattern for awhile longer while we wait for the inevitable encroachment of major events. The characters don't know what's barreling down on them, of course (well, mostly, but more on that in a minute), but we could hardly help but know and makes the first half of the novel drag. Also, this is the third novel in a row to devote a significant percentage of its length to the Battle of Coruscant, and although I actually really enjoyed reading it from the clones' perspective, it's getting a bit overdone by this point.
A big part of what drains the book of dramatic tension is that the characters, particularly the Null-ARCs, come off as omnipotent and omniscient in every way that matters. Part of this is Traviss's wry commentary on how George Lucas has written Palpatine's scheming in a way that requires everyone in the galaxy to be kind of blind and stupid, but she overplays her hand by making her characters the only smart people in the galaxy and it gets old hearing how they run circles around everyone else with no effort at all. There's no dramatic tension when there's no credible threat from anyone. There is one brief moment where it looks like someone might be onto them, but literally everything is already set up to nullify the threat almost before they know it exists. There's another moment later in the book where something is laid out so neatly for them that I was certain it would turn out to be a trap, revealing that Palpatine was aware of them after all, and introducing some real danger and real stakes into the story. But no, it was just another walk in the park for Clan Skirata.
Everything goes great for them and they always land on their feet . . . except for when they suddenly don't. But because they're so uber at everything all the time, when things goes radically sideways near the end of the novel, it can only be because of a monumentally stupid and unlikely chain of events. And ultimately that's pretty unsatisfying, too. There's plenty to like about this, particularly if you like some or all of the characters, but it left a bad taste in my mouth.
C+
September 25, 2014
This is the fourth book in this series. The others must be read to understand what is happening in this novel. This book continues the story of the clone units that realize there is more to them than just serving for the Republic. They want out and this book explains how it is achieved.
This book was slow to start. Over the course of this series the author has developed many minor storylines and now she has to weave these storylines that they all connect for the conclusion. The first part of the book dealt with this as some of these storylines tended to be themes found in a soap opera. Also, the author decided to add more characters and storylines that were just not needed especially with the great number of characters that were already in this novel. I enjoyed these storylines but it wasn't captivating.
This book takes off when Palpatine utters those famous words "The time has come. Execute order 66." After these words are said buckle yourself in because this novel gives the reader a ride that will fulfill your action needs and will tug on your emotions. I could not read fast enough as everything came to a head.
Karen Traviss has written one of the better series set in this universe and she does a good job tying it in with the movies. She even tries to answer questions that the movies left unfulfilled. She has done a wonderful job giving the clones characteristics and making the reader care about them. If you are a fan of Star Wars you owe it to yourself to read this series.
This book was slow to start. Over the course of this series the author has developed many minor storylines and now she has to weave these storylines that they all connect for the conclusion. The first part of the book dealt with this as some of these storylines tended to be themes found in a soap opera. Also, the author decided to add more characters and storylines that were just not needed especially with the great number of characters that were already in this novel. I enjoyed these storylines but it wasn't captivating.
This book takes off when Palpatine utters those famous words "The time has come. Execute order 66." After these words are said buckle yourself in because this novel gives the reader a ride that will fulfill your action needs and will tug on your emotions. I could not read fast enough as everything came to a head.
Karen Traviss has written one of the better series set in this universe and she does a good job tying it in with the movies. She even tries to answer questions that the movies left unfulfilled. She has done a wonderful job giving the clones characteristics and making the reader care about them. If you are a fan of Star Wars you owe it to yourself to read this series.
January 3, 2018
I found this book very entertaining to read and very insightful about the universe and the republic before the order 66 occurred. It also gives a side to the clones about what they think about how their life go after the. The book is very long and with the point of view changing every chapter, the book left me hanging every chapter and it make me want to keep reading. The plot thickened very quickly, with twists and turns everywhere. The characters had good depth and from reading the other books this book continued to build on the others, but it is also very easy to just pick up and learn what happened before in just this book.
May 20, 2020
It still has all the irritating issues I have identified in my reviews of the previous books in the series, but this one is saved by the final quarter of the novel. It features all the intense, intimate emotion I've been looking for, at the expense of tactical/commando shenanigans. This series has definitely not been my kind of "Star Wars", but I'm still glad to have experienced this corner of the Lucasverse.
March 20, 2022
BEFEJEZTEM!
VÉGRE!
EL SE HISZEM!
Alaposan megküzdöttünk egymással, de én nyertem. Fuhbaszdmeg. Én tényleg, őszintén, szívből akartam szeretni, de holy shit, hát ez nem hagyta magát.
Kisesszét tudnék irni, hogy mi volt benne szar, de igazából csak örülök, hogy végre végeztem.
Úgyhogy csak felsorolás szinten, amiket G y ü l ö l t e m:
- Szexizmus
- Male gaze
- a NőNeK a KoNyHáBaN a HeLyE
- a szerző képtelen összetett problémákat felvázolni, vagy azokat kezelni
- Kettős mérce
- A jedik ilyen: rósz. És ennek a végtelen, de tényleg végtelen ismétlése, minden konkrét indok nélkül
- száraz stílus
- feleslegesen túlkomplikált dolgok
- szappanopera
- KEVÉS VOLT A HATVANHATOS PARANCS, MIÉRT HÍVOD HATVANHATOS PARANCSNAK A KÖNYVEDET HA ILYEN OSTOBÁN OLDOD MEG????
- Etain halála, AZ IS MENNYIRE KIBEBASZOTTUL FELESLEGES VOLT MÁR, TE JÓ ÉG
- az meg hogy mindenki kényszeresen ciszhetero, az nem is tudom mi, de felbasz
- MINDENKI ÖSSZEHÁZASODOTT MINDENKIVEL ANNYIRA SOK VOLT ÉS SZAPPANOPERÁS AZT SE TUDOM HOL KEZDJEM
- MEG BESZÓLT OBI-WANNAK, KÉTSZER! HOGY SZÓLSZ BE PONT NEKI???
Ami tetszett:
- Kal Skirata
- a klónok
- a mandoi hagyományok - kivéve a faszságokat
- a random Esterhazy néven futó jedi
- harcjelenetek
Egyszer befejezem a sorozatot de fél évig l á t n i se akarom. Aztakurvaéletbe, hogy lehet valami ennyire pocsék amit közben meg annyira szeretnék, mert amit meg kedvelek az tényleg jó, de közben olyan Problémás TM.
VÉGRE!
EL SE HISZEM!
Alaposan megküzdöttünk egymással, de én nyertem. Fuhbaszdmeg. Én tényleg, őszintén, szívből akartam szeretni, de holy shit, hát ez nem hagyta magát.
Kisesszét tudnék irni, hogy mi volt benne szar, de igazából csak örülök, hogy végre végeztem.
Úgyhogy csak felsorolás szinten, amiket G y ü l ö l t e m:
- Szexizmus
- Male gaze
- a NőNeK a KoNyHáBaN a HeLyE
- a szerző képtelen összetett problémákat felvázolni, vagy azokat kezelni
- Kettős mérce
- A jedik ilyen: rósz. És ennek a végtelen, de tényleg végtelen ismétlése, minden konkrét indok nélkül
- száraz stílus
- feleslegesen túlkomplikált dolgok
- szappanopera
- KEVÉS VOLT A HATVANHATOS PARANCS, MIÉRT HÍVOD HATVANHATOS PARANCSNAK A KÖNYVEDET HA ILYEN OSTOBÁN OLDOD MEG????
- Etain halála, AZ IS MENNYIRE KIBEBASZOTTUL FELESLEGES VOLT MÁR, TE JÓ ÉG
- az meg hogy mindenki kényszeresen ciszhetero, az nem is tudom mi, de felbasz
- MINDENKI ÖSSZEHÁZASODOTT MINDENKIVEL ANNYIRA SOK VOLT ÉS SZAPPANOPERÁS AZT SE TUDOM HOL KEZDJEM
- MEG BESZÓLT OBI-WANNAK, KÉTSZER! HOGY SZÓLSZ BE PONT NEKI???
Ami tetszett:
- Kal Skirata
- a klónok
- a mandoi hagyományok - kivéve a faszságokat
- a random Esterhazy néven futó jedi
- harcjelenetek
Egyszer befejezem a sorozatot de fél évig l á t n i se akarom. Aztakurvaéletbe, hogy lehet valami ennyire pocsék amit közben meg annyira szeretnék, mert amit meg kedvelek az tényleg jó, de közben olyan Problémás TM.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 6, 2017
Wow. Now that was a great series, I was genuinely surprised by the ending, but happy about it at the same time. Best thing, it's been left open enough for them to continue the story if there's a call for it.
I hope it continues.
Awesome read.
Thanks to my wonderful wife for getting me the series. She knows me so well. :)
I hope it continues.
Awesome read.
Thanks to my wonderful wife for getting me the series. She knows me so well. :)
November 18, 2020
Karen Traviss has slain me, brought me back, and put me through more suffering with this addition to her series. Want great writing? Want to enjoy another extension of the story to the characters we know and love? Want to cry? Here you go. Kick up your feet, get some tissues, and thank Karen Traviss for putting some serious heart into this book.
July 16, 2023
First 3/4s of the book is hot dog water the last bit gets very good
February 24, 2025
I loved it all the a tion the betrayal and I even cried like a dang baby
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