In the book’s first pages we are also told that Starkiller will die – given his position in the Star Wars timeline, this premature disclosure is hardly surprising, but it does bleed the plot of any tension. I appreciate why Blackman would take this route it allows him to summarise each of the game’s numerous battle sequence in a single page, but Proxy’s superfluous voiceover kills what should be a cinematic experience. One major distinction with this adaptation is that much of the plot is narrated by Proxy, Starkiller’s ‘shape-shifting’ sidekick droid. Much of the video game’s vivacity has been lost in translation, however, with a script that stays so faithful to the game’s structure – only the battle with nutty Kazdan Paratus has been trimmed – that the end result is a book reads like a checklist of game sequences rather than a story in its own right. General Rahm Kota, a Jedi Knight whose refusal to use cloned soldiers saved him from Order 66, is particularly intriguing, demonstrating a wily approach to combat not far removed from the Alec Guinness Obi Wan Kenobi of A New Hope.

Starkiller’s love interest, Juno Eclipse – a name that would sound ridiculous anywhere else, but by Star Wars standards is pretty standard – is the recognisable feisty Leia imitation that this franchise so frequently spawns, but is far from the damsel in distress she initially appears. As Starkiller begins his rite of passage, cleaning the galaxy of the few remaining Jedi, the separation from his master sparks something in the young Sith that will lead to the establishment of the Rebel Alliance.Īt its heart as much tech demo as interactive tale of redemption, The Force Unleashed video game boasted a predominantly interesting cast. Tortured and conditioned from childhood, Starkiller is an emotionless puppet bound to his master’s bidding. Set several years before Episode IV: A New Hope, The Force Unleashed follows the trials of Starkiller, a Sith apprentice secretly raised by Darth Vader to hopefully aid his coup against Emperor Palpatine.

Star wars the force unleashed novel