Little reason to visit 'Death Star'

You might recall that I recently and enthusiastically jumped back on the "Star Wars" bandwagon with the purchase of four novels. One novel later, though, I'm starting to question the wisdom of my purchase.

I chose to first read "Death Star" by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry, the story behind the infamous space station's creation. I had hoped the book would help ease me back into the "Star Wars" universe by offering a story based on something familiar to me. And the book generally served that purpose. But it didn't achieve much else. Overriding problems with story structure and character development precluded me from truly enjoying "Death Star."

Written less like a fully developed novel and more like a series of loosely intertwined short stories, "Death Star" tells the stories of several enlistees and civilians who come to work on the station. The paths of some characters, such as Death Star Gunner Tenn Graneet and escaped convict Ratua, push the story forward nicely. But other purportedly central characters, such as Chief Librarian Atour Riten and architect Teela Kaarz, are painfully extraneous and serve little purpose. The novel would have done better to focus on fewer characters — and use major players such as Darth Vader and Grand Moff Tarkin more sparingly.

Another misstep the book makes is failing to follow through on its back-cover promise to discuss the Death Star "from inception to completion." I learned more about the station's history by reading its Wookieepedia entry than this book, which focused on the waning days of its construction and its first missions. Perhaps the only new pieces of information the book added to my understanding were (admittedly good) explanations for the exhaust port's placement and the Death Star gunner's many "stand by" delays at the end of Episode IV.

But four pages of "aha!" do not make up for 400 pages of "meh." By writing better individual and overlapping tales, Reaves and Perry could have produced a greater novel. As it is, though, there's little reason to visit this "Death Star."