Last year, Joe Shchrieber took the Star Wars expanded universe by surprise with the publication of Death Troopers (you can read my review of that here). It introduced zombies into the world of Star Wars in a very fun way. It was set between Episode III and IV and featured Han and Chewie as main protagonists.
As his Star Wars follow-up to that book, Schreiber has taken the zombies from a galaxy far, far away into the time of the Old Republic (which is also the setting of the new Star Wars MMORPG). Red Harvest tells the tale of a zombie outbreak on a far flung snow planet home to a Sith academy. What could be more terrifying than zombies with lightsabers and force abilities?
While some of you are rolling your eyes at this conceit, I assure you, Schreiber has done his job to make it sensible. Darth Scrabrous is seeking the path to immortality and is experimenting in his dark castle with various scientific and Force based formulas. He’s unlocked the key to it, but needs a precious black orchid which is force sensitive on it’s own. In fact, it is tied through the force to a young Jedi named Hestizo Trace who serves in the Jedi Agricultural Corps. She and the Orchid are abducted from a far flung planet by a Whiphid Bounty Hunter (Tulkh, who was a very cool character) and brought to Scabrous for him to complete his dangerous concoction.
Basically, all hell breaks loose from there and every single character, from the Sith students to the Jedi are forced to fend for themselves.
To be honest, I was wary of this book at the start. I like my Sith in pairs and when there are more than two, I get bored. They’re so predictable in their arrogance and power-seeking that I really couldn’t care less to read about them. Schreiber does quite a bit to allay those concerns and keeps those interactions minimal, focusing instead on the tight pacing and deft work at setting the atmosphere. Scabrous and his tower remind me of the typical Dr. Frankenstein, toiling away on his creation in some stony castle, only to take things too far. It’s a very effective and unsettling scenario, and normally I’d dismiss it as derivative, but Schreiber handles it like a master.
This is a splendid survival horror book and where others would work too hard to fold in the mechanics of the outbreak into the story, Schreiber makes it vital and interesting. We care about the orchid and what’s been done to it, the orchid is very much a character. We also care about its keeper, Hestizo. We care about the Bounty Hunter. We even care about members of the Sith academy. It works very well for this story.
At times I was on the edge of my seat, other times I was repulsed by the pitch perfect blood and gore of the story. This was a very careful and effective mix of Gothic horror, survival thriller, and Star Wars. Overall, I was generally impressed, though I didn’t think it was as good as Death Troopers. In fact, recognizable characters was what I thought was missing from this book. Han and Chewie put Death Troopers over the top for me, and I hope with Schreiber’s next entry into the Star Wars Horror genre, we’ll get characters like them back. And maybe something other than zombies.
You can preorder the book here. It’s scheduled for release on December 28.