‘Star Wars: Fatal Alliance( The Old Republic’)’ – Sean Williams (Del Rey)

Every time a new Star Wars book hits the market, I find myself in an awkward position. I used to buy every new Star Wars novel as they came out (yes, even ‘Darksaber’...) but it soon got to the point where the publication schedule started to look more and more cynical and like a dead horse was being repeatedly flogged. ‘Keep it rolling guys! Sub-standard or not, people are still going to buy these little beauties!’ I also found it extremely off-putting to hear that George Lucas will quite happily ride roughshod over books that have been in circulation for a while if they don’t fit with his ‘canon’. I wouldn’t mind so much if his ‘canon’ wasn’t liable to change whenever he felt like it...

The thing is though, I still like reading Star Wars books. The bottom line is that they’re a comfort read and a fun way to spend a couple of hours. When Del Rey sent me a novel based around the latest Star Wars computer game, well... Half of me knew I was being sucked back into that endless cycle of Star Wars books, the other half didn’t care so long as it was a bit of fun. ‘Fatal Alliance’ isn’t a bad book by any means, it wasn’t exactly fun though...

Three and a half thousand years before Darth Vader appeared on the scene but the galaxy is still the same in a lot of ways. The matriarch of one of the leading Hutt crime cartels has come by something very valuable and is about to sell it to the highest bidder. Envoys from the Republic and the Empire seek to outbid the other, all hiding the fact that they’re not intending to pay for the goods at all; whoever gets into the vault first will take the prize by force. And just what are the aims of the mysterious Mandalorian forever lurking in the shadows...?
The contents of the vault are far more than just the key to the riches of an entire world though. The truth is far more deadly and an unprecedented alliance must hold together if this threat is to be kept to one planet and not unleashed upon the galaxy. A double agent, a former special forces trooper, a Sith apprentice and a Jedi Padawan must combine their forces for long enough to see this threat off. After that, what happens next is anyone’s guess...

‘The galaxy is still the same in a lot of ways...’ You’d better believe it, especially when the first couple of pages talk about the Republic fighting Imperial Forces. A few pages further in and you find out that the Imperial forces are under the ultimate command of the Emperor... I had to re-read the first few pages just to be sure that there wasn’t some kind of ‘timeline jumping plot device’ going on!
Once that little slice of confusion was safely out of the way I was free to get on with the rest of the story but found that found that recycled plot devices were in abundance and made it feel like I could have been reading any one of a number of other Star Wars novels, even though ‘Fatal Alliance’ is set a good couple of thousand of years before most of them.

In a way, the whole point of Star Wars (the films and the novels) is that it’s derivative and really doesn’t care, preferring instead to concentrate on glorious space battles, high emotion and sweeping romances. It’s unashamed pulp that riffs off a lot of other source material, pure and simple. When it turns in on itself and starts riffing off itself though, that’s another story...

‘Fatal Alliance’ has everything that you’d expect to find in a Star Wars novel, the only problem I found was that this meant there was nothing that made the story stand out in it’s own right. Are you after a Jedi apprentice that doubts his own abilities and is tempted by the Dark Side? ‘Fatal Alliance’ has one of those. Are you after a threat to the entire galaxy? ‘Fatal Alliance’ has one of those too (seriously, another one?) Are you after reading about people trying to do the right thing in a galaxy divided between two polarised forms of government trying to justify themselves? You’ve come to the right place.
Like I said, there were times when I felt that I could have been reading any one of a number of Star Wars novels with the character’s names replaced. There’s a fine line between paying tribute to the original films and writing another story around them. What makes it worse somehow is when you see the direction that the Star Wars universe could go in given a little bit of free rein (I’m looking at ‘Death Troopers’ here...)

Having said all that though, while Williams doesn’t aim for originality (and given the confines he’s working under, perhaps you can’t blame him) he totally captures the essence of Star Wars, namely high adventure and high odds. ‘Fatal Alliance’ can be slow going sometimes (a little too descriptive where perhaps it doesn’t need to be) but when it does get going it kicks off in a flurry of thruster burn and laser bolts. You may have see it all before but there’s no denying that Williams writes storming action sequences that take you on a ride where anything can happen. It’s the same deal with the characters, you will have met them all before (either in books or the films) but Williams makes them all people that you want to follow through much intrigue and treachery. He’s also very good at delivering those ‘moments of spectacle’ where our heroes realise just what they’re going up against, just like when Luke and co see the Death Star for the first time...

After reading ‘Fatal Alliance’, I was left with the feeling that Williams was told to write a particular kind of Star Wars books; one that tied in with the computer game (of course) and highlighted the kind of themes you’d expect to find in one of these books. The end result is almost indistinguishable from other Star Wars novels but every so often you can see that Williams is chafing at the bit and wanting to show us what he can really do. If Sean Williams does write another Star Wars book (and I’m sure he will) I want to see more of this and less of the former. ‘Fatal Alliance’ was the poorer for having more of the former and less of the latter...

Seven and a Half out of Ten