4/5 Rancors - Republic Commando: True Colors is the third in the planned series of four novels by Karen Traviss. The first novel, Hard Contact, was published as a tie-in to the LucasArts videogame Republic Commando and exceeded all expectations for a videogame spinoff (unlike the disastrous Star Wars Galaxies: The Ruins of Dantooine, published around the same time). Traviss was able to take the ultimate in generic troop characters, the human clones of bounty hunter Jango Fett, and make them into fascinating and complete human beings. The rapid success of the first novel led to a sequel and then to a series to be concluded with a final novel simply named Order 66.
The greatest asset of this series is the ever-expanding group of clone characters and their allies that are central to the storyline. What does it mean to be an artificially-created soldier bred only for war and destruction? How does one wrap one's head around being given half the natural lifespan of the non-combatants around you? Just what is the Republic planning to do with these millions of men once the Clone Wars are over? The characters grapple with these questions on an ongoing basis and for men theoretically trained to be identical, come to some startlingly different conclusions.
The videogame was based on a group of four commandoes jointly named Delta Squad. Delta was unusual in that it has never experienced a personnel change. For the first novel, instead of using Delta, Traviss introduced a different squad, Omega, one with a far more tangled history and a stronger mixture of outside influences. Delta was added to the mix in the second book, Triple Zero, along with two father-figure Mandalorian instructors, the tough-but-lovable Kal Skirata and the tough-and-not-so-lovable Walon Vau. All of these characters, along with the various ARC troopers, the atypical Jedi Etain Tur-Mukan, Jedi and Mando-wannabe Bardan Jusik, and several other supporting characters all return in True Colors.
The thing I find most remarkable about that cast list is that Traviss has created a large and fully-realized set of compelling individuals without any reliance on film characters whatsoever. The closest thing to this achievement to date in the Star Wars Expanded Universe is the successful series of Rogue and Wraith Squadron novels by Michael Stackpole and Aaron Allston, but even these still utilize the films somewhat for their dramatis personae. Many kudos to her for this accomplishment; I only wish this series wasn't scheduled to end in one more book after all the time spent developing these people and their stories.
True Colors focuses less on plot and sweeping action sequences than the typical Star Wars novel. There are numerous issues raised by the idea of an army of clone soldiers, forced into military servitude and completely unprepared for any realities of life outside of war. Why should these men blindly follow the orders of a Republic that has never given them any choices? Also, they are smart enough to have clued in on the government's lack of a "retirement" plan for them and are justifiably not pleased with their future prospects. One of the many storylines of the novel is the exploration by Kal Skirata and a couple of his Null ARCs into what the Republic's true plans are.
In their search for identity, many clones have turned to traditional Mandalorian ways. Traviss uses the Mando language prominently throughout her books, and while this may be an annoyance to some, I found it added color. It was not difficult to follow what the characters meant by context of the words around the Mandalorian terms. By exploring the impact of this cultural influence on the troops, Traviss has established clear distinctions and potential lines of division amongst the men in the army.
I give major points for the manner and place in which the actual text of Order 66 is revealed. A lot of this book feels like a setup for the concluding volume, but the execution of that is excellent. By the end of the story, the lines have been drawn for an extremely intense and emotional resolution. It seems obvious where each of the characters' loyalties will lie when Order 66 comes down the pike, but my bet is that Traviss will have a few surprises in store yet.
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