Random Notes

In

Death Troopers combines zombies and Star Wars. What could go wrong?

the middle of my current exploration of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, the novel Death Troopers was brought to my attention. Brett mentioned it to Michael who mentioned it to me. It's the potential chocolate-and-peanut-butter literary mix that takes two great tastes and hopes like hell they taste great together.

Star Wars and zombies.

It's not that I expect it to be done well, but I'm just amused to see it attempted. There's no way I could avoid it or tell myself it's gotta be crap. I had to check it out. I've been listening to the audiobook and it's not bad.

The story is set on one of the Empire's prison barges. They encounter a drifting Star Destroyer where everyone aboard has been wiped out by a disease. Naturally it spreads to the prison ship and everyone starts dying. And then they start coming back to life. You think the idea of a zombie stormtrooper is scary? Zombie wookies are worse.

The reader, Sean Kenin, does a great job. He juggles a lot of distinct voices for the characters. I hope he's making a handsome living doing voice work for cartoons when he's not reading books.

The only complaint I have about the audiobook is the overdesigned chapter intros. It's a burst of static, then Kenin reading the chapter title, and then a distorted undervoice screaming the title at a much lower volume. It's supposed to sound manic and scary but really only manages to sound goofy. It's a minor quibble.