True Colors (Star Wars: Republic Commando, Book 3) Review

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(More customer reviews)True Colors is what most SW books are not: intelligent, dramatic, internally realistic, and morally complex.
A sequel to the previous Republic Commando novel, Triple Zero, True Colors follows Delta and Omega Squads as they seek to capture scientist Ko Sai, the master geneticist of the Republic's clone army. Having fled Kamino with records of the cloning program, she's now being hunted by Palpatine and other commercial cloners eager to appropriate her work. But where these parties are motivated by commercial and political potential, Delta and Omega Squads have a more personal interest, to coerce the scientist into prolonging their lives by slowing down the quick-aging process built into their genetic code.
It's a fairly simple story made complex by attention to character and theme, something most Star Wars writers glance over if they think of it at all. Many employ a comfortable shorthand in which certain kinds of characters or characteristics are good, others bad, and the situations in which they find themselves clear cut. Traviss, though, paints in shades of gray, in which heroes have faults, bad guys are sometimes good, and the choices they have to make rarely easy.
The clone soldiers struggle to comprehend the enormity - and irony - of their burden, to die for a Republic that claims to defend freedom and liberty but values its clone warriors less than machines. Though content to do that for which they have been bred, the clones begin to resent being taken for granted, especially by their Jedi generals, men and women who through their relationship with the Force claim to have a wider and deeper appreciation of life in all its forms. The Jedi are painfully aware of their responsibilities to the clones, but find themselves trapped by tradition and circumstance serving the Republic, setting aside the rights of their soldiers to first fight the greater threat posed by the Separatists.
With no one to look after their interests but themselves, the clone commandos and their Mandalorian trainers set in motion a plan to free themselves from the tyranny of genetics and societal neglect, to give themselves an opportunity to live a life of normal men. But to do that they have to go against their breeding and training to disobey orders, aid deserters, deceive trusted comrades, kill fellow clone troopers and Mandalorians, and put civilian associates at risk. Complicit in their schemes are two Jedi commanders who discover first hand the dangers of attachment to loved ones and the equally dangerous detachment from avoiding difficult decisions.
In the end the commandos and the Jedi find that by looking closely at the thing you hate, you begin to understand it, to see that it exists much the same as you, as the expression of conditions that brought you into existence. Ko Sai is from a society that as a result of ecological disaster had to euthanize weaker members of its species to survive. For the Kaminoans the universe is a cold and harsh place that demands difficult choices, choices other species seem unable to take, but from which the commandos do not shy. In taking extraordinary measures to protect their own kind, in not being able to depend on the help of outsiders, the clones and Ko Sai find they have something in common. And in a universe in which many see the clones as little more than crude fighting machines, the Jedi begin to see that what they might have considered brutish behavior is as much a result of breeding as it is the tasks the Jedi and the Republic call upon the clones to perform.
This is the finest Star Wars novel ever written. Where Triple Zero was weighed down by excessive detail on weaponry, technology, and Mandalorian culture, True Colors pulses with the warmth of life and the honest portrayal of human conflict. There is no SW novel that can compare in depth of character and ethical complexity (though Matthew Stover's novels come close). On the one hand I'm glad Traviss wrote it. It was a fine read and shows that licensed fiction need not be hackneyed product. On the other, I despair of reading anything as fine until Traviss' next Republic Commando novel.
If you enjoyed True Colors, then by all means check out Traviss Wess'har series, which covers much of the same thematic ground.
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Triple Zero (Star Wars: Republic Commando, Book 2) Review

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(More customer reviews)It may be damning with faint praise but this is quite possibly the best written Star Wars novel yet. There have been good, even great Star Wars novels before, albiet not a whole lot of them. However, the best of them are well told adventure stories and little else. Perhaps they give some insight into a central character or two but that is about as high as the bar is set. This novel is different. Certainly it is a fine adventure novel in its own right. However, it also touches on philisophic issues that don't typically make it into franchise tie-ins. In here we see the other side of the Galactic War seen in the prequels from the side of the clone troopers, those men bred for war and used up as easily and callously as one treats a piece of tissue paper. We've been told that the Republic before the fall was corrupt but we've really not seen much; characters simply announce that it is or was and we accept it as part of the backstory. Here we see the corruption of ideals and beliefs from the Jedi who shuck their treasured beliefs for an advantage in war to the government and supportive public who don't know much of the clones and don't generally care.
Beyond that, the story is well told and possibly the most realistic of any Star Wars novel, if realism can be used in a story of clones and magic using warrior priests. The action works the way it would in the real world and the challenges and plans ring true. This book is a better primer for someone interested in the SAS or "Delta Force" than many of the Ramboesque Walter Mitty garbage that pollute the book stores. In addition, characters are engaging and actually develop and grow, something all to rare in a book like this.
Simply put, this would be an excellent book without the Star Wars universe behind it. That it actually takes place in that universe and can stimulate discussion about the underpinnings of the prequels is extraordinary. Buy the book.

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Following the eruption of the bloody Clone Wars at the battle of Geonosis, both sides remain deadlocked in a stalemate that can be broken only by elite warrior teams like Omega Squad, clone commandos with terrifying combat skills and a lethal arsenal. . . .For Omega Squad, deployed deep behind enemy lines, it's the same old special ops grind: sabotage, espionage, ambush, and assassination. But when Omega Squad is rushed to Coruscant, the war's most dangerous new hotspot, the commandos discover they're not the only ones penetrating the heart of the enemy. A surge in Separatist attacks has been traced to a network of Sep terror cells in the Republic's capital, masterminded by a mole in Command Headquarters. To identify and destroy a Separatist spy and terror network in a city full of civilians will require special talents and skills. Not even the leadership of Jedi generals, along with the assistance of Delta squad and a certain notorious ARC trooper, can even the odds against the Republic Commandos. And while success may not bring victory in the Clone Wars, failure means certain defeat.Also includes the bonus story Omega Squad: Targets by Karen Traviss!

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Hard Contact (Star Wars: Republic Commando, Book 1) Review

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(More customer reviews)In a rather ironic moment, Hard Contact is so far the Clone Wars novel that best exemplifies the common conception of the Wars--but it doesn't have the logo on the cover. As befits a novel based on a first-person shooter, Karen Traviss's Hard Contact is not a novel about sitting around and talking, as others have been. Much as MedStar was "a day in the strife" for the non-combatants in the war, Hard Contact does the same for another neglected group: the clones themselves. (Perhaps this is why the earlier novels have seemed peripheral, plotwise: for all their seeming importance, the Jedi don't seem to do much in the war.)
Hard Contact is a showcase for Traviss's abilities. Her worldbuilding talents were used to create the environment of Qiilura, with its new flora and fauna that play a non-trivial role in the story. The background of the commandoes--of the clones in general--is also essentially produced from whole cloth, and manages to be distinctly, though not overtly, Imperial. She also managed to create distinct characters among the commandoes--and provide justification for it, something not really seen before. None of the four come across as cardboard. Another point worth mentioning is the sense of humor--Traviss doesn't go overboard with it, but the clones offer us some of the best quips since the Wraiths.
The same can be said of the other characters, as well. Unlike other recent novels, the "villain" is a complex character in his own right, as are the other antagonists. Traviss does a good job of showing the breadth of the Separatist movement. Some of the minor characters (read: the two-scene cannon fodder) are a bit flat, but there's really not much opportunity to avoid that, either.
All in all, Hard Contact is an excellent read, being what many were expecting from the Clone Wars. Don't be fooled by the ties to a video game; Hard Contact is the best SW novel since Shatterpoint (and perhaps earlier, depending on what you're looking for). We're lucky to have Karen Traviss writing Star Wars.

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As the Clone Wars rage, victory or defeat lies in the hands of elite squads that take on the toughest assignments in the galaxy–stone-cold soldiers who go where no one else would, to do what no one else could. . . .On a mission to sabotage a chemical weapon research facility on a Separatist-held planet, four clone troopers operate under the very noses of their enemies. The commandos are outnumbered and outgunned, deep behind enemy lines with no backup–and working with strangers instead of trusted teammates. Matters don't improve when Darman, the squad's demolitions expert, gets separated from the others during planetfall. Even Darman's apparent good luck in meeting an inexperienced Padawan vanishes once Etain admits to her woeful inexperience.For the separated clone commandos and stranded Jedi, a long, dangerous journey lies ahead, through hostile territory brimming with Trandoshan slavers, Separatists, and suspicious natives. A single misstep could mean discovery . . . and death. It's a virtual suicide mission for anyone–anyone except Republic Commandos.

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