#tarkin novel

[machetespaghetti]

Berch Teller where are you

Are you okay

Are you still in the woods

[miladythewinter]

Review of Tarkin by James Luceno

I never thought I’d one day read a book about Grand Moff Tarkin but here we are. It’s actually not about him, rather that he is the main character but we do learn about his homeworld, youth and personality, all of which was very interesting. If you don’t care for the political side of things of Star Wars, this book is not for you. But I personally find that interesting so I enjoyed this book.

In this story, Tarkin’s fancy ship is stolen while he’s on a planet with Vader and the two of them are tasked by the Emperor to catch the thieves and unravel the bigger conspiracy at hand. Most of the chapters are from Tarkin’s pov but we also follow Palpatine on Coruscant and the rebels on the stolen ship.

It’s not a complex, dense story by any means but it’s well-structured and fitting with the Star Wars universe. While I’m not the biggest fan of military sci-fi - like overly-described and overly-long fights and battles and weaponry - here those things are kept to a minimum, which was good.

Luceno’s writing is good - sometimes very good - and a true breath of fresh air after two Star Wars books that, in my opinion, were not good enough to be published (excuse my hater’s bluntness). Luceno’s writing is solid, efficient and he can tell a story. Aditionally, being an experienced Star Wars writer, you can tell that Luceno knows his stuff and is very at ease with this universe.

The only complaint I have of his writing is that some of the longer dialogues feel more like info dumps rather than things someone would say naturally. I feel like this, in part, has to do with Luceno’s penchant for using fancy words here and there, as well as his abundance of adjectives, none of which are really flaws except in these dialogues.

His characterization work is also good and he avoids turning Palpatine or Vader into caricatures or over-powered beings. He has a very down-to-earth writing which I deeply appreciate. Now I’m excited to read Catalyst as I now see why they hired him to write it.

[spectres-fulcrum]

Thought that's haunting me at work: how fucking intimate it is that even when their new relationship is still so new and Vader still resents Tarkin for Ahsoka'a trial:

Tarkin can still feel Vader's human eyes on him even if it's hidden by the mask that scares everyone else.

He feels those eyes and some part of him thinks it's Anakin's. Knows it’s Anakin’s. Recognizes the feel of Anakin's eyes. Through a mask. He knows the feel of those eyes.

He knows the feel of Anakin's eyes, knows the form of his lightsaber skill, knows how he treats his troops. It's not supported by the Citadel arc-it suggests more to their acquaintance during the war to transfer to this knowledge that this is a man the galaxy knows is dead.

But he suspected it first, from the gaze. And it leaves so much to wonder about-before and after the fateful day they met again for the first time. How well they knew each other. If they truly didn't know each other as well as Palpatine wanted.

(Also a 5+1 thing about gazes and looks sounds fun)

[elivanto]

the emperor’s answer to bickering children is to just send them on a mission together to have it out with each other so that he can have some peace and quiet lmao

[asteroids-and-tractorbeams]

Because I can enjoy Star Wars a normal amount, I had to figure out when the scene where Tarkin gets his uniform tailored is set. For everyone who doesn’t know what I’m talking about, in the Tarkin novel he gets his uniform tailored in one of the early chapters because the Empire is changing the design from the old Clone Wars uniforms. For reference, the Clone Wars uniform looks like this:

(Note the asymmetrical front that Tarkin hates) He gets a new uniform tailored so it looks like the Imperial uniform that we all know and love:

What I wanted to know though is when that scene is set because at the very end of Revenge of the Sith, Tarkin shows up to look at the Death Star with Vader and Palpatine looking like this:

Which looks like the standard Imperial uniform to me. He also shows up in the Bad Batch looking like this:

Which is definitely the Imperial uniform. So that tailoring scene has got to happen before he meets Vader in Revenge of the Sith and before he goes to Kamino in the Bad Batch. Which leaves us three options, either Tarkin called his tailor the instant he heard the Republic fell so he could get new digs, the movie/shows really compress the time so what took place over the span of weeks or months seems like it happens in the same week, or no one else cares about this and the timeline does not fit at all

[vessels-cape]

I hate Tarkin as much as the next person but getting his POV in his novel is fascinating

[girl-in-the-suit]

At a time when the Clone Wars were still a decade off, it became clear to his commander and peers that Wilhuff Tarkin had already tasted blood.

[vizhi0n]

Palpatine sitting in his meditation man cave vibing w/ the force and sensing vader and tarkin chase a stolen ship halfway across the galaxy