Andrew's Review of The Clone Wars Gambit: Stealth

4/5 Rancors - I was thoroughly impressed with Karen Miller’s depth of characterization in her debut Star Wars novel Wild Space. However, I found the portion of the story featuring Obi-Wan Kenobi and Bail Organa endlessly slogging through space and then across the surface of Zigoola drawn-out and rather tedious. So I was curious to see if Ms. Miller would be able to build upon her strong portrayal of the film characters while reducing the repetitiveness in her follow-up novels, the Clone Wars Gambit duology.

For my taste, she succeeded. Although making this story a two-parter does cause things to drag out too long, the pace is brisker and she shines in the multitude of scenes highlighting Obi-Wan and Anakin Skywalker’s relationship and viewpoints. Rarely has the Expanded Universe (or arguably the films themselves) made these two seem like close friends, the “brothers” that Obi-Wan speaks of on the Mustafar lava ridge. Ms. Miller devotes a great deal of space to the emotions, beliefs, insights, and personalities these two developed over the years together, and since they are so central to the entire saga, the focus on the duo is worthwhile.

Lok Durd returns from his Clone Wars first season two-parter as the primary adversary. This Durd is considerably more diabolical than what we saw on the cartoon: sure, he PLANNED to wipe out entire species with his doomsday weapon, but we didn’t actually see that happen. The Durd of Clone Wars Gambit is a loathsome, malevolent, vile creature, delighting in pain and suffering. He makes a good villain but I did get weary of his scenes about halfway through the story.

Clone Wars Gambit: Stealth is a very solid if somewhat overblown set-up for the conclusion in book two. If you are more interested in the action-packed galactic space opera side of Star Wars, these books probably won’t be a great pick, but if you’re intrigued by a more emotions-centered exploration of two primary Star Wars characters along with some nice sequences from the supporting cast, give this one a try.