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A review by teachinsci
Twilight Company by Alexander Freed
4.0
This is not a Star Wars book per se... It is a book about war set in the Star Wars universe. This book seemed to have three major themes: War has a cost. There are two sides to every war. Everyone is the hero of their own story.
The cost of war is inarguably the principle theme of this book. Twilight Company is a group of soldiers who are always sent into the worst environments to fight the hardest battles and, often, to die doing so. The members of the company are constantly being replaced and the method of sending off comrades is an important part of the culture of the group because of that. The soldiers themselves are seen through the eyes of a soldier named Namir whose life story we see in flashbacks throughout the book. He is not a rebel as much as a warrior and the life of fighting an dying is what he knows.
The other side of war is exemplified by a storm trooper. She lives on the planet Sullust and through a story that is told in snippets throughout the novel, we find that she originally joined for the money but soon realized that the Empire offered a structure that she came to appreciate. It is in this attitude that we see the thought processes of those who will zealously defend the status quo to contrast with the views of those who want overthrow the same structure. The author does a good job of making you question the idea (as much as possible) of all the a Empire being bad and all the Rebellion being good.
Lastly, there is the Imperial turned pseudo-rebel who worries that she is being chased by all the forces of the Empire. Whether she is or not, she seems to see herself as the fulcrum on which the fate of the Empure and Rebellion will hinge. It honestly doesn't matter if she is right though. Through her, we see how everyone wants to believe that what they do and what they gave to offer is what everyone is looking for.
Maybe I read more into this book than others, but I certainly think it is higher than a 3-star book (maybe 3.5). I settled on a 4 because of the layers of thought that were provoked in me by reading it.
The cost of war is inarguably the principle theme of this book. Twilight Company is a group of soldiers who are always sent into the worst environments to fight the hardest battles and, often, to die doing so. The members of the company are constantly being replaced and the method of sending off comrades is an important part of the culture of the group because of that. The soldiers themselves are seen through the eyes of a soldier named Namir whose life story we see in flashbacks throughout the book. He is not a rebel as much as a warrior and the life of fighting an dying is what he knows.
The other side of war is exemplified by a storm trooper. She lives on the planet Sullust and through a story that is told in snippets throughout the novel, we find that she originally joined for the money but soon realized that the Empire offered a structure that she came to appreciate. It is in this attitude that we see the thought processes of those who will zealously defend the status quo to contrast with the views of those who want overthrow the same structure. The author does a good job of making you question the idea (as much as possible) of all the a Empire being bad and all the Rebellion being good.
Lastly, there is the Imperial turned pseudo-rebel who worries that she is being chased by all the forces of the Empire. Whether she is or not, she seems to see herself as the fulcrum on which the fate of the Empure and Rebellion will hinge. It honestly doesn't matter if she is right though. Through her, we see how everyone wants to believe that what they do and what they gave to offer is what everyone is looking for.
Maybe I read more into this book than others, but I certainly think it is higher than a 3-star book (maybe 3.5). I settled on a 4 because of the layers of thought that were provoked in me by reading it.