Review: The Force Unleashed

The Force Unleashed by Sean Williams
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

*spoilers ahead*

Fuck this book.

Okay, don't. This book is really good. Really.

Let me start by saying that it's been a while since I've played the game (and I seriously cannot remember if I actually finished it) so there won't be many comparisons to the game. If you want to know how well it follows the game, look somewhere else.

Okay, so this book focuses on Darth Vader's secret apprentice that he had a couple years before the Battle of Yavin. Through most of the book, the apprentice doesn't even have a name aside from Starkiller, which was a codename of sorts given to him. He is sent by Vader to take down spies, traitors and in the beginning of the book, Jedi. A pilot is assigned to fly him around, Juno Eclipse. And, spoiler alert, they fall in love. The Apprentice and Juno, not Vader and anyone. No one loves Vader.

I like how the book detailed the Apprentice's discovery of who he was, and how he turned away from the dark side. And while Juno was a big reason on why he turned away from the Sith, it wasn't like he seen her and went "ya know, the dark side isn't cool..." Which, honestly, wouldn't have made sense. Juno is an Imperial pilot. She believes to her core that the Empire is right and the Jedi were traitors and deserved what they got. So him being a Sith was not a turnoff for her. He could have just kept swinging his lightsaber and killing Jedi and she would have still been fine with it. What pushed their relationship was Vader's betrayal. Well, his supposed betrayal? Wait, let me explain.

So, Vader is sending his apprentice after Jedi that escaped Order 66. And Vader is all "once you're strong enough we're gonna take down Palpatine and rule the Empire". Which, really, does Vader just promise that to anyone he comes across that can use the Force? Anyway, of course Palpatine finds out and he forces Vader to kill the Apprentice. Which Vader does. Supposedly. Vader then locks Juno up, branding her as a traitor. But the Apprentice survives. Vader said it was all a trick and sent him off to find enemies of the Empire to use against Palpatine. Soooo... the Apprentice was ordered to start the Rebellion against the Empire. On the Apprentice's way out, he grabs Juno out of her cell and is like "I need a pilot?"

The rest of the book focuses on the Apprentice working to set up a rebellion. He has to run an errand, save Bail Organa, fight a planet and lie lie lie. Along the way, he finds out who he is and realizes he caught feelings for Juno. That's when he realizes he doesn't want to do this anymore. And after another betrayal from Vader, the Apprentice swoops in, saves the Rebellion and sacrifices himself.

A character I didn't mention but is super important is PROXY. PROXY is the Apprentice's droid companion. No idea what kind of droid he is, but he can take the form of people, and his main programming is to kill the Apprentice. So... they dual a lot. But the Apprentice loves his droid. You can tell. It's really the only friend the Apprentice had.

From what I understand, or remember, or whatever, in the game, you can choose to go dark-side. Which I assume means you don't swoop in to save the rebels... I dunno. I'll watch a YouTube video later.

In my opinion, this is a great book. I love the characters of the Apprentice, Juno, and PROXY. The plot is fantastic and I loved it since I heard about it when the game was released. I remember playing the game, but I also remember not enjoying it. I think the gameplay got to me. Too many of those things where I have to hit a certain button at a certain time and I suck at them, I think. So, being able to read a novelization of it was just perfect for me. I do want to give the game another try though.

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