Star Wars: Tarkin

Thanks to Rebels we know there was a Jedi hunt, this centers more on Rebels and Separatists. I find it strange that the new Canon is almost 100% Jediless. Luckily Tarkin is very cool, and I did not hate this book.

This is a great addition to any Star Wars fan's literature collection. It also helps that this novel is considered canon material, and I do find the direction they took with Tarkin's origin story interesting.

People are bashing all the backstory that it's gives, but that's why I give it 5 stars. It helps us fall in love with the Tarkin character even though thouh he is a "bad guy." You find yourself rooting for him to capture the Rebels. This is what you want from a story written from the opposite perspective. Great read! Well written.

I am having a really, really hard time with the two new books that are out. This should have been an easy , interesting, exciting read but it lulls me to sleep. I didn't even finish it. I didn't finish A New Dawn either. Hard read and hard to get the other stories out of my head that I have read over the past 20 years.

A book that get's inside the mind of the man that destroyed a planet. How do you write about a person like that without them coming off as a mustache twirling villain? By getting inside his head and showing the life he lived that lead to him becoming capable of it. Make know mistake, Tarkin is not some secretly damaged person, and no excuses are mad for him. But the book does a very good job of showing things from his point of view and why he does the things he does. His reasoning is brutal, but from his perspective it makes sense. This book expands on him in the right ways, leaving him deeper as a character, while still being the man who destroyed Alderaan.

It also does a good job on expanding the dynamic between him and Vader, showing how they complement each other's roles in the Empire while also being it's most effective servants. While both stay in character, you really get a sense of respect between the two by the end and it goes a long way towards explaining why Vader was so willing to listen to Tarkin in a New Hope.

Luceno has always delivered when it comes to expanding on villains and this is no exception, Tarkin is a brutal man, but he is no caricature and this book goes above and beyond to show you that.

Interesting back story but slow and light on the action. How can the fearsome empire lose one if its prize ships to highjackers AND then avoid capture by Vader and Tarkin, two of the most feared figures in the Empire?

A book that get's inside the mind of the man that destroyed a planet. How do you write about a person like that without them coming off as a mustache twirling villain? By getting inside his head and showing the life he lived that lead to him becoming capable of it. Make know mistake, Tarkin is not some secretly damaged person, and no excuses are mad for him. But the book does a very good job of showing things from his point of view and why he does the things he does. His reasoning is brutal, but from his perspective it makes sense. This book expands on him in the right ways, leaving him deeper as a character, while still being the man who destroyed Alderaan.

It also does a good job on expanding the dynamic between him and Vader, showing how they complement each other's roles in the Empire while also being it's most effective servants. While both stay in character, you really get a sense of respect between the two by the end and it goes a long way towards explaining why Vader was so willing to listen to Tarkin in a New Hope.

Luceno has always delivered when it comes to expanding on villains and this is no exception, Tarkin is a brutal man, but he is no caricature and this book goes above and beyond to show you that.

Interesting back story but slow and light on the action. How can the fearsome empire lose one if its prize ships to highjackers AND then avoid capture by Vader and Tarkin, two of the most feared figures in the Empire?

We see Governor Tarkin as a ruthless figure in A New Hope, but never fully know why. This book explains it all and shows he is human. Great read. Luciano does a great job showing us the life of the Death Star Commander.

Tough to give more then three stars as I read this right after reading the Thrawn book, which I couldn't get enough off. But overall if you are an expanded universe fan you will read this whatever the reviews are.

This is another great novel By James Luceno his treatment of Grand Moff Tarkin is as good as his story of Plagies he creates the back story surrounding the myth and the man. I can't recommend this book enough it was thoroughly enjoyable

This is my least favorite Star Wars book in all that I have read.

Although I think that the author did well in generating lines that Tarkin would say, and yes I could hear Peter Cushing in my head for that dialogue, everything else about this book from Tarkin's backstory, to Vader and the Emperor's dialogue felt completely wrong.

Spoilers ahead:
I didn't like they way they portrayed Tarkin as being raised by ruthless parents who never showed him love but instead berated him with lessons in being ruthless. I didn't feel like it set a particular tone for Tarkin who through the whole book seemed to know absolutely everything about everyone. He knew Vader was Anakin, he knew that the Confederacy and the Republic were led by a central mastermind that was driving the war for its own benefit. He knew every action the enemy was going to take, but was beholden to follow Darth Vader, the bumbling Sith, even though Tarkin knew better

At one point Tarkin and Vader, essentially, get ship-jacked by some what was then pirates. Darth Vader does not get car-jacked, and he certainly doesn't fly around the galaxy in a little transport ship. The Dark Lord of the Sith takes a Star Destroyer, or seven.

I feel like Tarkin could have been an awesome character to explore, and build off of the movies and cartoons, but instead we get a always-right antihero that brings down the capabilities of the Sith, and raises this one human from a backwater planet to the keystone of the success of the Galactic Empire.

This is my least favorite Star Wars book in all that I have read.

Although I think that the author did well in generating lines that Tarkin would say, and yes I could hear Peter Cushing in my head for that dialogue, everything else about this book from Tarkin's backstory, to Vader and the Emperor's dialogue felt completely wrong.

Spoilers ahead:
I didn't like they way they portrayed Tarkin as being raised by ruthless parents who never showed him love but instead berated him with lessons in being ruthless. I didn't feel like it set a particular tone for Tarkin who through the whole book seemed to know absolutely everything about everyone. He knew Vader was Anakin, he knew that the Confederacy and the Republic were led by a central mastermind that was driving the war for its own benefit. He knew every action the enemy was going to take, but was beholden to follow Darth Vader, the bumbling Sith, even though Tarkin knew better

At one point Tarkin and Vader, essentially, get ship-jacked by some what was then pirates. Darth Vader does not get car-jacked, and he certainly doesn't fly around the galaxy in a little transport ship. The Dark Lord of the Sith takes a Star Destroyer, or seven.

I feel like Tarkin could have been an awesome character to explore, and build off of the movies and cartoons, but instead we get a always-right antihero that brings down the capabilities of the Sith, and raises this one human from a backwater planet to the keystone of the success of the Galactic Empire.

Godawful piece of crap. I'm giving it a one star because I can't give it any fewer. The problem is really that the author is pretty substandard, he's writing for a character that should be some sort of great military leader, and he hasn't any real understanding of how to write such a character. Which gives us a lame character and lame challenges of the character.

Dismal writing that masked a decent story. Too much techno-babble and Star Wars "brand names".

This author never learned the lesson to "show" not "tell". A sad beginning to the new non-film canon.

So, here's the newest entry in the Star Wars publishing empire. This time we're treated to a biography/character study of Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, the man behind the Death Star. You don't remember him? He was the guy in Star Wars: Episode IV--A New Hope that got to boss Vader around without getting choked, masterfully played by the inimitable Peter Cushing. Cheekbones like razor blades? Ringing a bell? If Vader is the Emperor's crushing fist, Tarkin is his knife in the dark--deadly, precise, and without mercy.

It's been five years since the end of the Clone Wars and the rise of the Emperor. For most of that time, Tarkin has been occupied shepherding the Emperor's pet project: the as-yet-unnamed planet-sized mobile battle station. Keeping such a large construction project on-task and supplied is no mean feat, even for one of the Emperor's most trusted lieutenants. Keeping it secret is next to impossible--anyone who's paying attention knows something is going on out by Geonosis, they just don't know what. Fortunately, most everyone with enough information to know what questions to ask knows better than to do the asking, and that's the way Tarkin likes it. Once it's operation, the mobile battle station will render the Empire's rule unshakeable. Until then, the Empire's infallibility can only be maintained by meeting any and all dissent with stiff, merciless reprisals. A new order has been born out of the chaos of the Old Republic, and Tarkin will do whatever he has to do to safeguard it and nurture it to maturity.

James Luceno is known for his incredibly detailed entries into the Star Wars mythos. Earlier endeavors chronicled the rise of Palpatine and his master in Darth Plagueis, somehow showing the behind-the-scenes maneuvering that led to basically every single Expanded Universe entry set during the period leading up to The Phantom Menace. He's given us the biography of the Millennium Falcon (yes, you read that right). He's given us Darth Vader adjusting to his new role in Dark Lord: The Rise Of Darth Vader. Some have criticized a few of his works as being slow at times, which I can see, but I've never minded--the attention to detail is worth it. Here, however, nobody has room to complain. Luceno weaves together a pair of compelling narratives, balancing them and always keeping you guessing as to where he's going to go next. On the one hand, there's Tarkin & Vader's pursuit of a suspiciously-effective rebel cell. On the other hand, there's Tarkin's backstory, the events that forged him into the Emperor's finest weapon.

Just as interesting as the new information it provides is the old information rehashed. Why? Because most of it comes from sources that are no longer officially canon. However, thanks to the shout-outs in Tarkin, we can unofficially assume that the events of Darth Plagueis, Dark Lord, and Cloak Of Deception all happened more or less as stated. The books themselves aren't canon anymore (or at least I haven't seen anything reinstating them), but the events therein contained still happened. Funny, all those books were written by Luceno....

CONTENT: PG-grade profanity. Some violence, occasionally disturbing in its ruthlessness. No sexual content.

Potential readers of Tarkin will fall into one of three groups: non-Star Wars fans, Star Wars fans, and loons. Star Wars fans are people (like me) who love the movies and read a book like Tarkin for entertainment. Loons, on the other hand, are neck-deep in the Star Wars Universe, get their undies in a bunch about ‘continuity’, know what is canon and non-canon, etc. Since what a reader will think of Tarkin depends entirely on which group they fall into, I’m providing reviews for each group.

REVIEW FOR NON-STAR WARS FANS:
Why are you reading this?

REVIEW FOR STAR WARS FANS:
Tarkin is a ghastly amalgam of disorganized plotting, tedious pacing, predictability, and insipid characterization of recognizable Star Wars characters. Worst of all, it utterly fails to tell us anything remotely interesting about Grand Moff Tarkin.

First of all, we must credit Peter Cushing’s wonderful performance in A New Hope for creating interest in a Tarkin backstory at all. Unfortunately, Luceno’s novel gives us nothing to sink our teeth into. His disorganized jumble of flashbacks and digressions undermines any logical narrative or character arc, but this hardly matters since he provides no meaningful character development. At any stage of Luceno’s story, Tarkin is pretty much as we find him in A New Hope. There is no ‘villain in the making’ here, and no insight into Tarkin’s goals or how he feels about anything. Not even the Empire to which he has dedicated himself.

Tarkin’s backstory – as presented by Luceno – is clichéd and odd. Basically, we are to believe Tarkin’s personality is driven by childhood ‘trials’ in the wilderness in which he hunted vicious animals, was covered in manure, and endured a checklist of unpleasant wilderness activities. I found this clichéd. I say odd as well because I just don’t think it fits the character. Peter Cushing’s Tarkin was a cunning, aristocratic politician. He wasn’t Rambo. Tales of him tracking and killing ferocious animals, piloting fighters, and handling tasks he could order someone to do just doesn’t work. Hence, Luceno’s entire Tarkin backstory is not only trite, but also unconvincing.

While that alone is a massive failure for the novel, it’s compounded by awful characterization in general. The Emperor, Darth Vader, and Tarkin come off as boring gasbags with all the menace of DMV clerks. They wangle and chitchat about mundane details like bored middle managers waiting for a late flight at the airport. Their investigation of a ‘ship-napping’ – the main plot thread – has the dramatic tension of an IT guy explaining the difference between various PC operating systems.

And there’s more. While Tarkin’s thin plot is both predictable and slow moving, the novel never ignites because Luceno ignores the key storytelling challenge he faces. Like Revenge of the Sith, Tarkin is the story of a villain not a hero. The story can’t get us to sympathize for Tarkin without diluting his character’s role in A New Hope, and yet Luceno provides no other characters for us to invest in. His band of rag-tag proto-rebels could have filled this function, but they are too thinly drawn and their mongrel motivations are uninspiring. As a result, Tarkin is a novel about characters we’re not invested in doing things we don’t care about.

Sadly, the novel doesn’t satisfactorily answer basic questions you might have from A New Hope. What the heck’s a ‘Grand Moff’? What was the nature of Vader and Tarkin’s relationship? How did the Death Star get built? Why was Tarkin willing to blow up planets for the Empire? Luceno largely deals with these issues in his final chapter (via brief, unimaginative text), and his answers aren’t much different than what I had surmised from watching the movies (not that I put much thought into it).

Tarkin fails on just about every level. The Star Wars universe setting was about the only appeal for me, and I doubt very much I will read another EU work after enduring this dull, unimaginative work.

REVIEW FOR LOONS:
Tarkin is fantastic! It’s approved canon and rattles off the names of every planet the story comes within a parsec of so you can add to your list of Star Wars planets. There are paragraph long run-downs about the structure of the Empire and who has been transferred to what part of it at this point in the timeline, so you can update your Imperial contact list of non-existent people. The book is rich in cameos from characters with fleeting roles in the movies and cartoons. Fortunately, nothing important is said about them and they don’t anything, so there’s no risk to all-precious continuity. There are also little nuggets about alien species you’ve briefly seen in the movies. (Did you know, for example, that Mon Cals smell bad? Well, they do!) Finally, the self-referencing dialogue pulled straight from the movies will charm you (e.g., Vader: “Don’t act so surprised…”). This book has it all!

FINAL THOUGHT:
For me, Tarkin is the perfect example of how loons ultimately kill movie franchises. By picking apart every detail of movies, books, comics, and TV shows, stories like Tarkin are forced into endless exposition. Luceno spends pages explaining every detail of his scenes. It feels like he’s proactively fending off the nerds who spend their Saturday nights looking for story ‘inconsistencies’ that normal people categorize with “Why don’t any of the characters ever use a toilet? Didn’t people a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away have to tinkle?” Such pre-emptive exposition is useless in progressing a story or expanding a universe in any interesting manner. Instead, it strangles plot, makes tight pacing impossible, and discourages character development, introduction of characters, and creation of new alien settings. Ultimately, I'm not sure that this book is in any way an example of James Luceno as a writer.

Fortunately, Tarkin is forgettable enough that it will not ruin A New Hope for me. However, if Tarkin is representative of the Expanded Universe, I won’t be reading any more of it. It’s pretty clear it’s only made to satisfy loons…a low bar indeed.

As a big fan of James Luceno’s “Darth Plagueis,” I was excited to hear that Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin would be getting the Luceno treatment. Unfortunately, “Tarkin” isn’t quite the equal of “Darth Plagueis” in that it doesn’t provide a sweeping backstory for Tarkin. It’s more a story in which Tarkin is the central protagonist. However, we do get some great background information about Tarkin, especially about his upbringing on Eriadu. And there are some wonderful treats for fans of the old EU.

*** MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD***

The novel takes place about 5 years after “Revenge of the Sith.” Wilhuff Tarkin is in command of a base overseeing the construction of the Death Star. The Empire is busy hunting down former Separatists and others who oppose Palpatine’s New Order. The story starts with an unexpected attack on Tarkin’s base by a group of dissidents using advanced Holonet technology. The Emperor sends Tarkin and Darth Vader on a mission to track them down, but they in turn fall into a trap. The dissidents end up stealing Tarkin’s ship and attacking Imperial targets.

This is a novel in which the context is more interesting than the text. The actual story isn’t particularly interesting or epic. Vader and Tarkin track down a bunch of dissidents who steal Tarkin’s corvette and go on a joyride. It almost seems like a task below these two iconic villains, if not for Tarkin’s personal connection to the ship and the dissidents. Nor does Tarkin rise to the occasion to display any particularly formidable investigative or tactical skills during his mission. I had been hoping to see Tarkin emerge as a larger than life character akin to Grand Admiral Thrawn in Timothy Zahn’s novels. Instead, he seems mostly along for the ride.

A big part of the problem is that Tarkin’s adversaries don’t provide much of a foil. The dissidents aren’t particularly interesting characters. Even though the book spends quite a bit of time with them, I felt like I never really got to know them and had trouble telling them apart. Their motives were pretty basic. I think Star Wars characters work best when they’re based on bold archetypes (i.e., “the smuggler,” “the princess,” etc.), but the dissidents were mostly low-key individuals who had similar motives. A great hero needs a great villain – or, in this case, a great villain needs a great hero – but Tarkin just didn’t have a worthy adversary in this novel.

That said, there is still much to enjoy in this book. Luceno takes the opportunity to delve into Tarkin’s upbringing on the planet Eriadu. Luceno portrays the Tarkin family as akin to early Australians or Afrikaners, whites who colonize a new land and develop a healthy respect for it, but also take great pride in taming nature. Eriadu itself has a sort of outback feel. Many of the scenes on Eriadu show Tarkin struggling against nature, but not outright destroying it. Instead, he learns how to tame nature through fear and manipulation. Thematically, it’s a nice echo of the “man versus nature” themes in “A New Hope.” I probably would have enjoyed the novel even more had it spent more time in this period of Tarkin’s life.

“Tarkin” also answers a few questions fans have long had about the character. For example, we finally learn if and to what extent Tarkin knows Darth Vader’s true identity. We also learn – much to my shock – Palpatine’s first name. For fans of politics, we get to see the Imperial Ruling Council in action during this era for the first time. However, as with much of the Prequel-era of Star Wars, sometimes the fan service goes too far. We see familiar characters like Admiral Motti, Colonel Yularen, etc., but they hold the same exact rank that they do in “A New Hope.” It is simply not plausible that they would hold the same rank for over 15 years, especially for Motti, whose character in “A New Hope” was relatively young (the actor was only 30 at the time of filming).

For Star Wars fans disappointed by Disney’s relaunch of the EU, Luceno goes out of his way to bring some of the stories from his previous novels into continuity. I won’t give any spoilers, but let’s just say that we see a few old EU characters reemerge in this novel. They’re not the focus of the story, but it’s a nice signal to fans that some of those stories and characters live on in the new continuity.

As I said above, “Tarkin” is not nearly the equal of “Darth Plagueis.” There story isn’t particularly epic. That said, I did enjoy it, both as an adventure tale and for what we learn about Tarkin himself. I would definitely recommend the novel to Star Wars fans, but temper your expectations.

Overall: 3 stars.

[I received an advance version of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.]

1. Mr. Luceno has tried (perhaps nobly) to bring story elements of the unashamedly awful Cartoon Network Clone Wars series into the Expanded Universe. It only serves to confuse the plot even more.

2. The book has very little present action. What I mean by that is there is very little in the way of story and too much exposition. Mr. Luceno is constantly stopping the story to explain the history of something or flashing back over and over again. It left me very confused. Several times Vader is mentioned as having returned as if he had left during a flashback or exposition.

3. [SPOILER] Tarkin thinks he knows who Vader really is, but this plot line is never explored. The Emperor thinks there is tension between them over Ahsoka's trial. This too is never developed.

4. For some reason Tarkin is given elements of Sherlock Holmes.

5. The Death Star hardly factors in at all. This is all about the Tarkin Doctrine.

6. We get a glimpse of the Emperor's court, but even that plot line is very thin as to be almost intangible. The Emperor himself gets very little plot time, and it is used exclusively to highlight potential subplots that are never developed.

7. How many fricking classes of star destroyers are we going to make up before someone sits down and draws them out?

I could go on, but the point is the book feels like it was rushed. Mr. Luceno should have read his own work a few more times and ironed out the plot before releasing this book.

Spoilers ahead!

Mystery, intrigue and adventure make up the dramatic tale of “Star Wars: Tarkin.” Though similar in style to author James Luceno's work. “Star Wars: Darth Plagueis,” this book explored a story with a less-known ending. We knew that Sidious would kill Plaguies – it happened at the beginning of that book, and then circled back to lead up to it. In this case, we learn about what made Tarkin shrewd and developed his “rule by fear” doctrine. We're given references to “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” as well as some detail of Tarkin's involvement with the Death St- the... deep space mobile battle station, as it is called at this point.

Most interesting to me was the intrigue on Coruscant, Palpatine's efforts to filter it out, and the unusual, budding relationship between Tarkin and Darth Vader. Not friends, per say, the two do bond, however, throughout their adventure. Tarkin suspects Vader's true identity correctly, and this deepens the way they interact – an almost good cop – bad cop duo. Though which is the worst bad cop is hard to say, as each has their own style of evil.

This book, canon, and developed with input from the Lucasfilm Story Group, helps build both the Empire as we know it in the films, and lay the groundwork for the atmosphere of the new series “Star Wars: Rebels.” The contentedness of the new books and TV show make it very enjoyable to see things corralled under supervision. Do not miss this book!

James Luceno’s novel, Tarkin establishes a backstory for one of Star Wars’ earliest villains, showing how he came to be a ruthless Imperial leader and his friendship with the Emperor’s enforcer, Darth Vader. Luceno does an excellent job showing what made Tarkin into the man (or monster—depending on one’s point of view) who oversaw the construction of the Death Star and became its commanding officer, but it fails to provide an engaging story when it tells a tale of Tarkin and Vader teaming up to stop a Rebel incursion. While Tarkin is a fun read, it does not match to Luceno’s Death Star or Dark Lord Rising.

Grand Moff Tarkin has been a character who has fascinated Star Wars fans since his first and only appearance in Episode IV: A New Hope. The fact that George Lucas was still putting his universe into place meant that there were irregularities that wouldn’t be fixed until the sequels (such as Darth Vader’s true identity and Luke and Leia’s relationship as brother and sister). Watching Star Wars, Grand Moff Tarkin is clearly the film’s villain and Darth Vader is his henchmen. Vader would take a much more prominent role in The Empire Strikes Back as the film’s major villain and by Return of the Jedi, it was clearly established that Vader was the second most powerful figure in the Empire.
So what of Grand Moff Tarkin? How did he get to be the commander of the Death Star and was Vader an enforcer, a spy for the Emperor, or something else? Through the years, fans have speculated that Tarkin sought to use the Death Star to overthrow the Emperor and that Vader was there to keep an eye on him. Others have speculated Vader was there serving the Emperor as his official troubleshooter.
Once upon a time, George Lucas authorized books, comics, and video games as taking place in the same universe as the Star Wars films (unlike Star Trek, which limited canon to film and television). Known as the Star Wars Expanded Universe, these tales continued the adventures of Luke, Han, Leia, and company as well as developing a new universe of supporting characters and new generations of heroes. Along the way, writers helped fill in the backstory of how the Death Star was built, how Han Solo became a smuggler, and other unanswered questions. While Grand Moff Tarkin’s background was slowly developed (including appearances in the animated Clone Wars), fans still had much to learn about what made him into the ruthless officer who helped enforce the Emperor’s commands. Sadly, the Expanded Universe became apocraypha when Disney purchased Star Wars and the material is now known as Star Wars Legends.
James Luceno does a splendid job examining Tarkin’s formative years and the experiences that turned him into a ruthless and efficient officer. The novel is not a biography of Tarkin but tells a story of a challenge Tarkin faces, flashing back to his past but remaining in the present for the most part. This is where the novel stumbles because Tarkin’s mission seems far below his capabilities.

Luceno does a splendid job of illustrating the power triad that is the Emperor, Vader, and Grand Moff Tarkin. Luceno not only shows Tarkin’s rise to power, but he shows how the Emperor grooms him into his position, testing him like he does with Anakin Skywalker. Luceno also provides a look at the dynamics of the Empire’s military high command, demonstrating how the Emperor pits them against each other to test them and possibly keep them better controlled.
Tarkin is a good book, but it’s not a great book because Luceno has Tarkin chasing around characters who are presented as challenging, but never seem to be a threat. It is good to see Darth Vader and Tarkin working together because it presents a better rationalization of why the two work together on the Death Star.

I got this book on Audible. I listen to Audible books often, as I enjoy the voice acting, music and sound effects that adds the the text of the book. I have read far more Star Wars books than I can remember, and have listened to quite a few Audible ones. I love Star Wars, and it doesn't take a lot for me to be enthralled in any manner of Star Wars lore. That being said, SKIP THIS BOOK. The audible version has a terrible voice for Darth Vader, is not read well, and the book itself is hard to follow- and ultimately you find yourself not caring that much for most of the characters. If you're a fan of Grand Moff Tarkin and want to know about his childhood formation/trials and early connection with Palpatine, then go for it. Otherwise here is all you need to know (no spoilers, and presuming you've seen the movies): This book reveals Palpatine's first name. You can easily find this on the web. Next, at one point, Tarkin had a really cool corvette class ship named the Carrion Spike that had some amazing capabilities. Finally, rather than read this book, go to Wookiepedia and read the overall story synopsis. You will in less than a minute have the gist of the book.

The end of the book around chapter 20 (or 21 on Audible) has a short narrative in which Tarkin tells Vader of his ultimate test/trial as a young man in the wilderness of his homeworld, He does this after Vader asks him why he named his ship the Carrion Spike. That part is not bad, and seems to have some symbolism when it comes to the relationship of the Emperor, Vader and Tarkin. It's not earth shattering if you don't read that part, and who knows, that snippet may be on the web somewhere.

I generally don't leave reviews, but after spending the time getting through this book I just had to. On another note, I've really enjoyed the author's other works. I'm not sure what happened here.

This is a tale of two reviews: one of the performance of Euan Morton as the reader for the audiobook, and one of the book itself.

In the interests of full disclosure, I probably would not have chosen this book at all, were I not a great fan of voice actor Euan Morton, who provides the voice for the Sith Inquisitor in the MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic. I discovered this recording by seeking out additional work by Mr. Morton. That's what drew me in--and that's also what kept me going when the going would otherwise have gotten *extremely* tough.

So let me begin with a review of the audiobook in and of itself. Like I said, I am a fan of Mr. Morton, and for me, getting to listen to the "Inquisitor" tell a story for hours was a pleasure. One of the interesting things about his performance is that not one of the voices you hear--not even his default accent in the narration portions--is actually his natural accent. I've seen videos on YouTube of Mr. Morton in normal conversation, and turns out, he's Scottish. Yet he absolutely nails his Peter Cushing impression; the accent and inflections are dead on, and when he switches into his narrative voice, there's a clear difference with that as well. Those of you who know his work as the Sith Inquisitor will know what I mean when I say that the narrative voice is more pointed and (deliberately) less lyrical than the "Tarkin-voice." In the story we also hear Mr. Morton tackle both male and female, human and nonhuman characters without sounding ridiculous, as well as multiple British, American, and even Australian voices, each with their own idiosyncrasies. Of the non-Tarkin voices, I have to say that his take on Emperor Palpatine was the most successful. I also found that based on the voices Mr. Morton created, that I got a pretty good image of species I was unfamiliar with, not having seen Rebels. All of that, I very much enjoyed.

The only aspect of the vocal performance that didn't quite work for me was Vader...and while Mr. Morton was able to pitch his voice low enough for that, James Earl Jones has a very full, booming sort of voice, whereas Mr. Morton's best voices are more comparable to Peter Cushing's. I honestly doubt it would have even been physically possible for Mr. Morton to manipulate the dynamics of his voice THAT far. Given how dissimilar Vader's and Tarkin's voices are, I can certainly see where if only a single reader was to be chosen, favoring the titular character was the most sensible move in order to place the focus all the way on Tarkin. (And like I said, while Tarkin's voice and the narrative voice are *not* identical, there is definitely a similarity that keeps one grounded on Tarkin the whole way through.) But, if I had been the one producing the audio book, I might have considered bringing in a guest reader to work alongside Mr. Morton for Vader's lines, though I would have absolutely let Mr. Morton go on as the star of the show otherwise.

Now on to the story itself...unlike the vocal performance, where I would have rated this 4.5, the story itself only merits a 2, on grounds that there were some interesting portions I would have liked to read as a collection of short stories or novellas, but my God, does the narrative ever lose focus when the attempt is made to mash all of the storylines together. Based on what I am seeing from other reviewers, I am very certain this was not simply an issue with me taking this book in an audio format, but an honest to goodness structural problem with the book itself. The first mistake was trying to weave the two Carrion Spike narratives together: the one from Tarkin's past, and the one from Tarkin's future. While it was kind of "cute" (in an evil sort of way) how the two storylines were brought together in the end, they should absolutely never have been combined. Each time a break was taken from one story, it absolutely destroyed the excitement and flow that might have started to build in that story, to pick up elsewhere. There were most definitely two separate novels here that I do not think were worth the gimmick at the end.

But even if I take each narrative separately and grade the "past" and "present" as their own stories...well, there are problems there too. The prose is just...my God, did anyone ever attempt to read this book out loud before greenlighting this to press? I honestly felt sorry for Mr. Morton having to tough his way through some of the meandering, dry as hell, boring sentences and paragraphs that he was made to cope with. And I feel like if Mr. Morton had been hired to give a beta reading performance of this thing before the author and editor, to listen to how it really sounded before it went to print (and, I would strongly suspect, watch Mr. Morton's invisible reactions to what he was being asked to put up with!), it might have become readily apparent that some serious editing needed to happen. Mind you, I am not saying all prose needs to be short and clippy like Hemingway...in fact, I *despise* Hemingway! And I would imagine from reading this review, you would readily be able to tell that the length of a sentence is not necessarily an indication of its quality in my eyes.

There is a difference between weaving a picture with one's words, however, and absolutely putting the reader to sleep. I do not, for one example, care to hear an endless and mind-numbing list of sartorial details--and really, was that entire opening scene of Tarkin getting a new uniform tailored for him even *necessary* in the first place? Could some far lighter description of that have been managed without having to go the whole bloody nine yards of fabric and thread?

Had I been previewing this book on its own, without a voice actor doing the reading aloud, I can tell you with absolute certainty I would have put this right back on the shelf, for failing what I call my 50-page test: if the book fails to hook me in 50 pages, then I will go no further. I am not one who objects to all exposition or internal trains of thought. Hell, I thrive on such things done right. But that was dry as a bone and like I said, I felt like if I had been in Mr. Morton's place having to read it out loud, I would not only have tripped over my tongue or run out of breath on a number of those excruciating passages, I do not believe I could have done the other things he did--i.e. attempt to inject SOME sort of emotion (though not overblown) into it, AND consistently hold an accent that was not my own, through all of that. That is certainly a mark of concentration and professionalism if you ask me.

Now that said, there *were* parts of the story that did individually catch my interest on their own merits (i.e. without the added help from the vocal performance). The tale of young Tarkin's expeditions into the Carrion Spike was not bad. But far better than that, was the storyline running from Tarkin's first encounter with Darth Vader, through to the recapture of the Carrion Spike. And there were also certain tightly-paced scenes, particularly Vader and Tarkin running around in the criminal underworld, and the total, disjointed chaos wrought by an Interdictor allowed by Tarkin to cause the maximum havoc possible.

And of the slower-paced scenes, I found I enjoyed the looks into the mastermind Palpatine's deliberations and thought processes. I'm not sure--perhaps it was the relentlessly planned and organized nature of Palpatine that forced Luceno to be more deliberate and less wasteful about what he did there. But it worked for me. And as a friend of mine pointed out, we have a potential illustration of Palpatine being a far more effective leader than Snoke, by realizing that in order to get the best out of his minions Tarkin and Vader, he needed to knock their heads together, so to speak, and make them learn to work with each other. (Compare to Snoke tacitly encouraging a lot of juvenile nonsense between Kylo Ren and Hux that I *really* hope will bite Snoke in the rear later.)

But I have to be clear. There is no way I would recommend this book in written form to anyone other than completionists. And when it comes to the audiobook, my recommendation largely be geared towards SWTOR fans, and others who might appreciate what Euan Morton does with Peter Cushing's voice and most of the other voices. I can tell you one thing though: it will be a hard slog to get through it on your own.

The second book in the new Star Wars Canon. This book is loaded with a cast of classic sinister characters! James Luceno does a fantastic job capturing the voice of Grand Moff Tarkin. Taking place in the Star Wars timeline between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. Yet, it also takes place before the first release of the new canon, Star Wars A New Dawn.

Many Star Wars Characters have been expanded upon in recent years under the Legends expanded universe. Now, it’s Tarkin’s turn. We get a glimpse of his past and the trials he faced as a young man. In this tale, a band of outlaws steal Tarkin’s ship in the opening pages. We follow Tarkin and Darth Vader as they hunt down the misfits.

Luceno brings us a great story with great dialogue which paints clear imagery with the way he writes. There are a few minor things in the book I wish weren’t in there. One example of those things would be Palpatine’s first name. Yep, that’s inside.
You won’t be disappointed in this book, I recommend you purchase this one. Grand Moff Tarkin is indeed a great Star Wars Character and deserved a good book.
I give this book a 3 out of 5

There are several good things going for this audiobook, but it's not enough to save it from a boring listen.

What's good? The production quality is top notch. Music and sound effects are perfect. They actually make the book better than it is.

The narrator, too, is pretty good. He's not the best I've ever heard, but he's in the top tier. He's a hell of a lot better than a lot of other narrators that have put me to sleep.

Also in the "good" department is the sparse background information on Tarkin. Luceno did an excellent job giving this character the perfect childhood and career that builds the character we all know of as Moff Tarkin from A New Hope.

So, what's wrong with this book? The rest of it. The bulk of this tale is a very uninteresting mystery that Tarkin and Vader, together, attempt to solve. It's a very unimpressive mystery, and I kept asking myself, "Why is Tarkin and Vader concerning themselves with this? Why isn't some stormtrooper squad or intelligence team check this out and reporting back to Tarkin. The man is a MOFF in the story (not yet a Grand Moff), and he's running around the galaxy with the arguably the most powerful man in the galaxy, Darth Vader, trying to figure out the result of this silly mystery. Luceno tries to overcome this criticism by having Palpatine ask the two to follow the mystery. But, that makes no sense, either. I just didn't buy that Palpatine would waste their time like that.

Reading about how Vader and Tarkin work together was done well. And, there's an incredible section where Tarkin uses three Interdictor cruisers to pull ships out of hyperspace on a very busy trade route. This is heavily accented by the top-notch sound effects. But, it's not enough to save this book.

My biggest gripe is that much of the book reads like a biography. It breaks the dramatic rule of telling the reader what happens instead of showing the reading the events.

I found the book tedious, and although I finished it, it was an effort to get that far.

Grand Moff Tarkin is by a wide margin my favorite character in the "Star Wars" franchise. As a villain he's so confident, so self-assured that he never needs to posture. He's not a grotesque, perverted alien like Jabba, nor does he constantly protest about how eeeeeeevil he is for the viewers, as Vader and The Emperor seem obsessed with doing.

Tarkin is evil as it appears in real life: a bureaucrat, unthinkingly confident in the righteousness of his cause, giving never a second thought to pressing a button and destroying countless lives.

All that being said, I'm probably a pretty easy mark for whoever was tasked with marketing TARKIN the novel. I've always been more than a casual "Star Wars" fan and used to read quite a number of the Expanded Universe novels before it became daunting in the late '90s and I just gave up trying to keep track. Now and then I stick a toe back in, and yes, I'm aware that this novel is in the new canon and blah blah blah, but I'll live. They'll bring back Grand Admiral Thrawn or they won't. In any case, the Thrawn books are still on my shelf in case I ever care to revisit the character, so I'm not particularly worried at this point about Legends vs. EU or any of that.

Anyway, as for the book itself, it represented a highly fascinating narrative exercise. How to make Tarkin, the villain of "Star Wars," into the hero of his own book without diluting his villainy? Well, Luceno rose to the task admirably. Not to get too political, but the difference between beloved freedom fighters and dastardly insurgents has a lot to do with what side you're on and what methods, exactly, they use. While Luke and Han would never have hurt a fly if it wasn't wearing stormtrooper armor, the proto-rebels of TARKIN are much more in the mold of the Taliban or ISIS. Little concerned about stealing, betraying friends, killing bystanders, or falsifying propaganda, it quickly becomes easy to see how the rebels of this book, while probably being on the right side of history, are villainous.

And so it's easier for the reader to see Tarkin as he sees himself: the faithful defender of life and order in the galaxy. The narrative alternates between Tarkin's present-day (er, about ten years before "A New Hope") hunt for the rebels who stole his ship and his reminiscences about his formative years on the deadly Carrion Plateau of his native Eriadu.

I suppose this novel could have been better executed. I would have preferred a novel without Vader, so Tarkin could have displayed his mettle outside the shadow of the Dark Lord of the Sith, but Lucerno chose to focus on the growth of their grudging partnership. Fair enough. I think I might also have like a better throughline to how Tarkin's youthful exploits led to his belief in rule through the fear of force rather than force itself. Instead, the flashbacks seemed to focus more on a generic sort of "you have to be ruthless to survive" lesson, and that doesn't really reveal a whole lot about Tarkin the character.

Still, if you're the type of person that's going to pick up a "Star Wars" book about Grand Moff Tarkin, rest assured, you will not be disappointed. I am that kind of person and I wasn't.

Grand Moff Tarkin is a pretty interesting character and this book did show his background pretty well, but it's also pretty boring.

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS***

The first chapter has Tarkin designing a new Imperial uniform. Yeah, that's a great way to start out a Star Wars novel, have like 10 pages of one of the greatest bad guys in the genre trying his hand out as a fashion designer. Because the latest military fashions are what you want to read about when you read about Star Wars isn't it?

So then we get a lot of background about Tarkin on his home planet Eriadu, and how he had a life of privilege but also how it made him tough. Want to save yourself a bunch of time while you're reading this book? Just skip the parts of the book that talk about him in the woods and just tell yourself, "Tarkin was given intense wilderness training while growing up and it taught him to be ruthless, he then used that in his military career and it paid off big time." There, I just saved you like 20-30 pages of reading.

So moving on, some people who I can only describe as "Star Wars YouTubers," steal Tarkin's personal ship and then uses it to cause chaos and then broadcast videos of it all over the galaxy on the HoloNet, their version of the internet. And then the rest of this book is Vader and Tarkin acting like bff's while they look for this ship and the people who stole it.

Oh yeah and there are a few mentions of the Death Star in this as well, but they are pretty brief and don't really go into detail too much and that is disappointing.

***END SPOILERS*** ***END SPOILERS*** ***END SPOILERS***

All in all this book is not very interesting. The author seems to want to show us how Vader and Tarkin built their mutual respect of each other and what they did before the Death Star was completed. But it's just boring. The space battles in this are lackluster, the rebels stealing the ship are easily forgettable and the politics that are discussed in this book are very dry and boring.

The only good thing about this book was the few times that the author got Tarkin's character right and he was acting like he does in the movies, but those moments are few and far between. You can skip this book and not really miss much in the Star Wars expanded universe.

"Tarkin" should have been great. It's easy to imagine how compelling a chronicle of the Grand Moff's life and rise to power could have been. Indeed, with such a straightforward title, I expected a biographical account of Tarkin's life from start to finish. Instead, what Luceno gives us reads like a rejected television story arc, and Tarkin himself becomes flat and boring far before his novel is finished.

The novel starts out well, engaging and well-written. I enjoyed Luceno's little touches to humanize what could have been stiff and sterile Imperial dialog, such as when Tarkin asks how high up the chain of Imperial command a message originated from, and his adjutant responds "nosebleed altitude, sir". Rather than start off with Tarkin's early life, Luceno chose to begin with a battle scene to demonstrate Tarkin's insight and the respect he commands from his staff.

Unfortunately, Luceno doesn't delve too deeply into Tarkin's origins. Frequently touched upon in flashbacks and referenced in dialogue, we nonetheless spend the entire book piecing together Tarkin's backstory from snippets, perhaps a decision Luceno made because he couldn't manage to make the backstory interesting.

The entire book, and our insight into Tarkin, is framed around a juvenile plot in which some dissidents steal Tarkin's personal corvette (which Luceno goes to great lengths to constantly remind us is The Best Ship in a Galaxy) and use it to go on a spree of attacks, hoping from system to system and destroying minor Imperial targets. Because Tarkin's ship is so great, it sends the entire Imperial Command into a panic, with Luceno's childlike admirals, moffs, and generals bickering and ineffectually redistributing Star Destroyers at random throughout the galaxy.

The bulk of the novel covers Tarkin and Vader personally chasing Tarkin's ship across the galaxy, always one step behind. In one chapter, they even lead a squadron of fighters in an attack on the corvette. Ok, Vader is a combatant and a pilot, but sticking an Imperial *Moff* in a Starfighter to chase his prize cruiser? It's too cheesy to bear, too unbelievable for the straight-laced Empire, and not an interesting or compelling look into the life of the first Grand Moff.

Imagine if there was a movie where some hooligans stole George W. Bush's car, which was also a tank, the fastest vehicle on the planet, and had a cloaking system, and was driving that around the country blowing up small military outposts. As Secretary of Defense Adam Sandler, Vice President Will Ferrell, and Secretary of State Kevin James argue with red faces, Bush and Hillary Clinton are personally commandeering bombers and battleships, chasing W's stealth-tank-car across the country. How seriously could you take that story?

Vader and Tarkin are both one-dimensional characters. Tarkin is driven by the goal of crushing dissidents and ruling the galaxy through fear, while Vader is driven by nothing more than blood-lust and the desire to Force-choke. Luceno occasionally makes feeble attempts to humanize the Dark Lord, but Vader having a personal conversation about anything is just weird, and attempts to turn Vader into more than a caricature are undone by Luceno's inability to portray the Dark Lord of the Sith without throwing his hands on his hips every few paragraphs.

Luceno spends the entire novel building up to a flashback scene on the "Carrion Spike" on Tarkin's home planet, a pivotal scene in Tarkin's life that held such a lasting impact as to lead Tarkin to name his super-ship the "Carrion Spike". The Emperor even personally tells Vader to ask Tarkin about the ship's name, leaving the reader hungry to hear the story. Of course, after hundreds of pages of build-up, we are finally given the story in a detached and lifeless recounting straight from Tarkin's own lips. Luceno's chosen pivotal scene, that he has been hyping the entire novel, is an utter disappointment.

Tarkin starts off fairly well and is engaging in the beginning, but once you realize this entire book is about Tarkin and Vader chasing Tarkin's super-ship, the whole thing falls apart.

Who was the one guy who could keep Vader in check? Come on, not the Emperor – the one person on the entire Death Star for whom Vader had a grudging respect? That’s right. Grand Moff Tarkin. Remember that one scene in the original Star Wars (some folks call it Episode 4 these days), when Vader is force-choking Admiral Motti, and Tarkin says, “Enough! Vader, release him.” Does Vader hold up a second hand and force choke Tarkin, too? No. He says – almost bored – “As you wish.” Even Princess Leia calls it when she comments on Tarkin being the one to hold Vader’s leash.

Bottom line – Tarkin got kind of a raw deal, being (spoiler alert) blown up at the end of the first movie, along with the Death Star. Played by the immortal Peter Cushing, Grand Moff Tarkin had the potential to be a tremendous figure in the Empire. We got some glimpses here and there with the post-series novels, most notably the emergence of Mara Jade, who was, we discover, Tarkin’s – GASP! – lover before she was Luke’s wife. But what formed the man we loved to hate?

Thankfully, James Luceno gives us Tarkin’s story in the latest Star Wars novel, Tarkin. We don’t get too much of a childhood background here, and we don’t need it. We get the events of his formative years that gave him his cold, steel foundation, and then we get a brief history of his rise through the Empire’s ranks, thanks to a friend in the Senate. Named Palpatine. The meat of the novel takes readers on Tarkin’s first mission with Vader, as they look to bring down a group of insurgents and find themselves peeling back layer upon layer of conspiracy.

Star Wars fans will love this story. Old school fans will love revisiting a familiar character and filling in some background notes. Newer fans will appreciate, and be familiar with, the post-Clone Wars Separatist movement and the Empire’s struggle to cement themselves as the reigning power in the universe.

James Luceno tells a great Star Wars story – it’s no wonder, really; he’s written Star Wars novels and a dictionary. He also gives us the Emperor’s real first name, which almost broke the Internet upon its release about a month ago. Emperor’s monikers aside, Tarkin is front and center in this book. We see his true genius, his talent for making connections and inferences, and most importantly, his dedication to the structure, the law, the absolute-ness that the Empire stands for.

I loved this book, if you can’t tell. I haven’t read a Star Wars novel in a long time, but this book welcomed me right back into that magical galaxy far, far, away.

i just finished star wars: tarkin by james luceno. this book, i believe, is best enjoyed by hardcore star wars fans, but it also is like a gift to peter cushing fans, since peter IS grand moff tarkin. honestly, that's why i read it in the first place.

i always felt like i wanted to know more about governor tarkin, and luceno provides the goods. we are treated to his formative years growing up, and are privy to his insights and experiences which build a complete picture of tarkin heading into star wars. this is the really nice trick luceno pulls off, making meaning out of single lines and moments from the movie, providing more meat/tofu to flesh out what we see briefly on screen.

as tarkin is inseperable from cushing, i loved reading it, hearing things in peter cushing's voice, imagining him at different points in his life (easy to do since i've been watching peter cushing movies going back to when he was a young man). but the greatest treat of tarkin is reading the wonderful scenes between him and count dooku and darth vader, peter and his two frankenstein's, the former his best friend. i feel like one of luceno's goals was to give fans a tarkin-dooku scene was and to conjure a new moment between these late, great bffs, so the reader could enjoy peter and christopher back in familiar territory. it was heartwarming. and i've always loved in star wars, when vader is telling tarkin that kenobi is aboard the death star, and tarkin respectfully--and warmly--tells him that "the jedi are extinct, their fire has gone out of the universe. you, my friend, are all that's left of their religion." well, james luceno's tarkin gives us some insights into that sentiment.

a little heavy on the politics that made the pre-quels at times so, well, boring, tarkin nonetheless is a well-written novel that explores territory that was in dire need of being more deeply explored, and done so in a way that is a love letter to both fans of star wars and peter cushing.

The book begins with Governor Wilhuff Tarkin in charge of a secret military installation on Geonosis that was responsible for building a new battle station - the one that would be later known as the Death Star. But the installation is attacked by bold raiders who utilize falsified HoloNet transmissions to disrupt the installation's defenses. Some time after, a cache of HoloNet equipment is discovered in a former Separatist world. Tarkin and Darth Vader are dispatched to determine the nature of this equipment and identify to whom they belonged to.

At the same time, the book also goes back further to flashbacks of Tarkin's life as a young man. Thus we see the particular events in his life that shaped him and helped him to become the brilliant yet ruthless military tactician that he becomes later in life. And it's quite the difficult rise given how he begins life on some backwater world and yet manages to capture the attention of one Senator Palpatine of Naboo.

James Luceno is quite the established Star Wars author and so there's no question that the book would manage the "right" tone in terms of its writing. It's a solid Star Wars experience through and through. But in terms of the new Expanded Universe reconciling with the old one, there will be those little hiccups that feel just a little off for someone who has been following these adventures for some time now. Thus we now have Geonosis as the site where the Death Star was built instead of the more exotic Maw Installation from the older books.

But these are minor trivialities that newer readers won't notice all that much. What was a bit more distinct was how the book also makes sure to tie into existing canon. And this is simple enough in terms of the big movies, it was surprising to see a major effort to tie this together with the recently concluded Clone Wars animated series. A young Tarkin had made an appearance in the cartoon and the book made sure to reference this. In addition, we had quite a number of references to Ahsoka Tano as well. At first this rather weirded me out, but in hindsight it makes a lot of sense and it is rather reassuring that they're making this much of an effort to ties all franchise properties together.

Now back to the story itself, I was rather impressed with the tale they crafted for this key figure in the Star Wars lore. The many elements of his youth all tie together to give greater context to why he became the cold, calculating man that we saw in A New Hope. One can respect how he managed to rise through the ranks so quickly and he continued to impress the Emperor time and time again.

The book also tried to provide a bit more background to how members of the early Empire reacted to the sudden appearance of Darth Vader. When the Emperor introduces a fearsome warrior with no known background into the ranks, that should cause a bit more of a stir. And Tarkin has his suspicions as to the identity of Vader, which makes sense given his activities during the Clone Wars. And this made for a nice little twist to things.

On the whole, Star Wars: Tarkin is a nice little exploration of a great character and an interesting way to establish this new Expanded Universe. The effort to tie in different parts of the franchise beyond the movies such as the cartoons was a nice touch that is growing on me and may help me decide to buy more books in the future.

I've always thought of Grand Moff Tarkin was one of the underappreciated villains of the Star Wars saga. He was a powerful commander close to the Emperor, called Darth Vader an "old friend," and did not hesitate to destroy the planet Alderaan. And yet, for all his power, he survives no further in the original trilogy than the Rebel assault on the first Death Star, dying when a young, inexperienced pilot named Luke Skywalker blows up the space station. If Vader's management style was brute force, Tarkin's was manipulation and fear.

"Fear will keep the local systems in line," he told his gathered commanders aboard the Death Star on news that the Senate had been disbanded. "Fear of this battle station."

And so, with fear as his theme, James Luceno's Tarkin builds a life for Wilhuff Tarkin, creating a character, not from whole cloth, but from the hints and clues George Lucas left in A New Hope as to who Grand Moff Tarkin might be if he had had a more full biography. Born the son of a powerful family, he is raised and trained to build their honor. He shows an aptitude for clever and strategic planning, developed over years of training in the wilds of his home planet. He becomes a loyal soldier of the Republic, an ally of the Jedi, and yet, easily makes the transition to the Empire.

Luceno's Tarkin is a fun, quick read. Not too deep, but not shallow, either. But then, he doesn't have much to go on. With what he does have, Luceno carves out a cold, but sympathetic, Grand Moff Tarkin.

We get a good look a Tarkin and how he rose to power (sort of). We get a look at how the emperor took interest in Tarkin and teamed him up with Vader (sort of). We get a look at the hard life growing up as a Tarkin and maybe some glimpse into what makes the Grand Moff tick (sort of). Ultimately we get a lot of "sort of" moments that culminate in a pretty decent telling of an episode of Tarkin and Vader working together and forging the relationship you get to see in the cinematic film(now films). But for the story-telling we fail to see a climax to the story. The book ends... it just ends... You are not left wanting more, you are not necessarily feeling that you should be entitled to more... It just ends. Overall, I think any fan of the genre and the Star Wars world will find some value in the background and the history of the story...but if you are looking for some grand adventure that has the movie Star Wars feel, you may be underwhelmed.

A very strong look into the character of Tarkin that takes place in what is a pretty tepid mystery. Luceno's big leg work is on making sure Tarkin shines through, and the early chapters really do work for this. However, the resolution and reasoning for the plot do end up feeling counter productive to character work. There are some glimmers throughout the book that at one time it may have been written as a faux-memoir of Tarkin's and that probably would have been more interesting way to tackle the character.

As it stands, the present portions of the book are a little too straight forward after the first half of the book, feeling like stuff we've seen before. The flashbacks to Tarkin's life are interesting but too much time is spent on a survivalist journey, meant to show us how ruthless Tarkin is, that feels slightly out of character. It reminds me of someone liking the scene of the elder Lannister dressing the deer in his first appearance of GAME OF THRONES and inserting something similar into this narrative. It's a curious choice and feeds into the character but it rings slightly force. I needed more Tarkin as tactician, as governor and was left wanting. The relationship between Vader and Tarkin that develops is really good and fits nicely into what we know. Tarkin is perhaps a little too precocious in completely guessing the identity of Vader and that Palpatine was a Sith playing both sides. While it shows Tarkin as smart, it also raises quite a few questions about poorly the other two are hiding their trail.

In all, this is a fun, tight read. It's also short, which ends up giving it a much steadier pace. The payoffs are not far off, the scenes moves. There's no long meditations but also nothing is rushed. It's a great tie-in novel. In the end, I liked it quite a bit. It slots nicely after LORDS OF THE SITH and before A NEW DAWN

James Luceno's new Star Wars novel, "Tarkin", focuses on the enigmatic Grand Moff first introduced to us in the original 1977 film, "Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope". Despite the menacing evil of Darth Vader, Peter Cushing's portrayal of a ruthless military officer of the Imperial regime actually proved at times even more chilling than his dark masked companion. While Darth Vader's journey ultimate proved the core of the Star Wars films, it's nice to see such a wonderful supporting character getting the star treatment in this novel.

The narrative itself takes place roughly five years after the events in "Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith", where Moff Tarkin is busy overseeing the early stages of construction of a battle station that will come to be known as the Death Star. After a surprise attack by unknown forces, Tarkin is recalled to Coruscant where is he must deal with the imperial court, and is assigned to a potentially deadly mission with the emperor's new henchman, Vader. Throughout the narrative, Tarkin's personal story is told in flashbacks- his formative years on Eriadu, his academy days, his early meeting with a seemingly rising young senator named Palpatine, and his own rise to the status of governor and moff. This makes for exciting and thrilling reading, as one learns more about the corridors of imperial power and the early years of the Empire, where the galaxy is still recovering from the Clone Wars and Count Dooku's separatist movement.

The book's second act, however, tends to fall into a relatively interesting, yet ultimately uninspired chase, as Vader and Tarkin must track down an elusive band of terrorists attempting to subvert imperial power. The problem here, as with so many Star Wars novels, is that the characters created here, those not grounded in Star Wars canon, seem a little too one dimensional and uninteresting. The novel shines, however, where exploring the backdrop of imperial politics, and the emperor's own demonic plans for the galaxy.

The unabridged audiobook features the narration of Euan Morton, a gifted actor who brings the myriad characters to life wonderfully, most notably Vader, the emperor, and Tarkin himself. The audiobook also features a wonderful background of Star Wars music and effects, which really draws listeners into the space battles and grand adventure of this science-fiction franchise. Fans of the political/Rise of the Empire aspects of Star Wars will really take to Tarkin, though it may be a bit too dry for most readers/listeners.

It was a bit daunting to read a Star Wars book since it had been years since I read one and even though I still love Star Wars I just don’t watch the movie that often nowadays as I did when I was younger. Also, this book is about Tarkin, a character I never really cared about in the movie. But Darth Vader was on the cover also so that made this book seem a bit interesting to read.

But, I must say I was pleasantly surprised about how much I enjoyed reading the book. It's a really, really good. Yes, it had some part that was a bit tough to get through, space fighting isn’t my favorite reading material, I prefer watching it on the telly. On the plus side, it was good written, not too much and it was necessary for the story.

In this book, we get the background story to Moff Tarkin, his childhood on Eriadu, his career to present time in the book when he is in charge of building the Death Star. But he must hunt, together with Darth Vader, down dissidents hell-bent on causing trouble for the Empire when a mission goes wrong and his ship Carrion Spike gets stolen.

As I said before this book was good so good in fact that I realized that I was rooting for Tarkin to win over the dissidents that he was chasing. I mean I know I had a weakness for Darth Vader since I was a child, but Tarkin? That felt odd. Now I’m not saying that he is good, he is not a misunderstood character. He is a firm believer in the Empire and he has done awful things. But James Luceno has written a so good portrait of Tarkin that you can see how he became the man he was when we for the first time met him on the Death Star.

If you are a fan of Star Wars then you should read this book

This will be my second dive into LucasArts' new Star Wars canon, following A NEW DAWN by John Jackson Miller. Much like JJM's KENOBI, James Luceno's DARTH PLAGUEIS was one of the last novels of the old canon, and I would personally consider it to be one of the best in the entire Expanded Universe. Thanks to Luceno, the old stories went out with a bang, so I was excited to see that he was making another return trip to Star Wars, this time with TARKIN.

Between the two, TARKIN is most definitely a stronger novel than A NEW DAWN, but a few narrative hiccups keep it from reaching the thematic heights of DARTH PLAGUEIS, and likewise keep its eponymous villain/protagonist from Thrawn-levels of genius.

TARKIN takes place 5 years after Episode III and 14 years before Episode IV: the construction of the Death Star is in full swing and the Emperor has committed himself toward expanding Imperial influence throughout the galaxy. Governor Wilhuff Tarkin has been entrusted with overseeing the flow of materials and information to and from where the Death Star is being constructed, but an attack upon his station by unknown assailants forces him to place his duties aside. At the Emperor's command, Tarkin is forced to take joint command over the investigation into the attack with Darth Vader, and the two quickly find that the attack wasn't as random as it seemed.

At its core, TARKIN is a very basic story. Unlike DARTH PLAGUEIS, Luceno shows much restraint here, crafting a narrative that is both isolated (possibly to keep from infringing on the new canon *too* much before the release of Episode VII) and brief. Not a lot happens, and the cat-and-mouse maneuverings between Tarkin, Vader, and their attackers account for a good portion of the novel. Brevity is not a bad thing in and of itself, but considering that the story also spends time expounding on Tarkin's childhood on Eriadu, the novel frequently felt uneven. Gone is the steady, deliberate pace from DARTH PLAGUEIS, and instead the narrative frequently halts mid-chapter and in the middle of action sequences to treat us to a flashback to Tarkin's youth, told almost completely in exposition.

Part of me suspects chunks of the novel were excised after the buyout. Regardless, it was surprising to read such sporadic stop-and-go storytelling here.

But the real strength of TARKIN is really what held my attention in DARTH PLAGUEIS. Luceno has a ridiculous grasp of the setting of Star Wars, as well as the characters within it. Interactions between Tarkin, Vader, and the Emperor felt true to their characters and how they were portrayed in the films, and most (if not all) of the dialogue read naturally. We see political maneuverings, backalley deals, economic upheaval, cultural/regional/interplanetary conflicts, and the state of an Empire still reeling from a very recent war that consumed the galaxy. Luceno puts a very believable spin on everything his story touches. While books like A NEW DAWN give us a surface-level adventure, TARKIN is concerned with the nuts and bolts, bringing a touch of realism to this space opera.

This might not be Luceno's best contribution to Star Wars, but as one of the opening novels of the new canon, it sets the stage and solidifies a healthy portion of the lore that future novels will no doubt have to build upon, in addition to giving us a very engaging look at Tarkin and Darth Vader, and the beginnings of a very dangerous partnership.

Hello,

Thanks to NetGalley.com and Lucas Books for the opportunity to read this book early, sadly a privilege I didn't take advantage of. The book was originally released November 4th, 2014.

This is my review of James Luceno's "Tarkin". This is the lead up to the story of the original "Star Wars: A New Hope", only this is told via the perspective of Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin. It entails his being in charge of the building of the Death Star and his wary encounters with Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine.

"Tarkin" details Tarkin's life on Eriadu with an overbearing, strict father. His father shaped so much the man he ended up being though. Through his great uncle Jova's tutelage young Wilhuff Tarkin learned how to be a man. He learned most of these lessons out on the Carrion Plateau, where Wilhuff had many opportunities to literally fight for his life. He acknowledged this by trial by fire by naming his personal ship the Carrion Spike. The Carrion Spike was where he faced his final test as a youth. It flashes back and forth between when Wilhuff was a boy to when he was one of the most important men in the universe. Tarkin, now 50, when this book starts is overseeing the construction of the first Death Star. He's located at the fringe of the galaxy at Sentinel Base working on a top secret project. People think he's been banished, when he's been anything but.

From his youth on Eriadu to Sentinel Base we learned how he came to be who he is. Those Carrion Plateau experiences shaped him in so many ways. The bulk of the action in "Tarkin" revolves around a group of separatists and how they stole the Carrier Spike and the Empire's effort to get it back. Tarkin and his ship were a lot alike. Tarkin a man of intelligence, conviction and personal integrity. He believed in the cause of the Empire and thus became one of their most valuable servants.

He didn't believe in using blunt force just because he could- he wasn't as cold blooded as Darth Vader. We see this with how he dealt with space pirate Q'anah, who won many battles against Tarkin, but ultimately lost the war. The story of Q'anah would make a great book in it's own right. He used his smarts to catch her and he used blunt force to send a message. Grand Moff Tarkin, one of only Moffs, wasn't a person you wanted to mess with.

I also enjoyed seeing the development of the characters of Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine and the role each played in the lives of the other two.

Ultimately I have to give this book a 4 star rating, I thought it would end where Tarkin's life ends. That was disappointing but Luceno masterfully leads the story up to the unveiling of the first Death Star to the galaxy. Although this book ended before I thought it would, it was still a great ending. Although we don't hear much about the rebels in this book , no wonder Tarkin was so nonchalant as the Death Star was only seconds away from being destroyed. I would urge my fellow "Star Wars" fans to read it. It will help fill in the time and expectation until December 18th, 2015.

I loved being back in the world of "Star Wars"- I'm giddy with excitement about the December 18th premiere of "The Force Awakens". Also the whole story about Tarkin and Darth Vader being out smarted by a bunch of smugglers and their struggle to get the Carrion Spike back was more than a little disappointing. But ultimately that served the story.

themusicaddict

Tarkin is the second book in the new canon of Star Wars novels, and the first genuinely good one. A New Dawn, for all its various merits, failed repeatedly to live up to its potential as an adventure novel or a character piece. With Tarkin we can see a bit more of what the Lucasfilm Story Group has planned for this universe. That, for me, is one of the chief thrills of this book.

James Luceno is an author who has been on my watchlist for years as one of the best Star Wars writers to never really have an unreservedly good novel. His books have to me seemed consistently better than their subject matter since his area of focus always seems to be periods of little interest. Who really wanted to see the background negotiation behind the trade regulation conflicts that lead up to the Phantom Menace? And the less said about the NJO the better. But despite the subject matter his books were always an easy read, and I've been waiting for the day when he found himself writing on a subject worthy of him. And finally he has in what is technically his first Star Wars novel in the new continuity.

Tarkin is a book that's miles better than it should be. Wilhuff Tarkin is not a sympathetic man by any stretch of the imagination. To have an entire book devoted to him has seemed criminally wasteful to some. All the more so since this is not so much an adventure yarn as it is a genuine character study. At many points it feels almost like a biography of its subject, not a problem for me since I enjoy biographies.

The main plot features a group of insurgents (not really rebels so much as terrorists) who are using advanced holonet hacking abilities/technology to sabotage and destroy Imperial outposts. The Emperor sends Vader and Tarkin to chase them down, and in so doing they form the beginning of the partnership we see in A New Hope. The secondary plot consists of Tarkin's musings on his past and the rise of the Empire. This section is focused on A LOT, and contains most of the truly interesting character moments along with a potted history of how the Empire is run and what exactly its inhabitants believe and value.

The main plot's fairly weak to be honest. Or I might better say that it's fairly simplistic and undeveloped. But that's because it really is only an excuse to allow the character study to unfold. And an excellent character study it is. Tarkin emerges from these pages as a fascinating figure who is understandable without being particularly sympathetic. While the book doesn't focus overmuch on his atrocities (apart from repeatedly demonstrating his indifference towards civilian casualties) it doesn't make the mistake of sugercoating them either. Tarkin is still that wonderfully privileged brute we saw in A New Hope, he's just provided with the background and beliefs to match it.

It's not a perfect book by any means. The grand revelation about his past, saved until a conversation with Vader just before the book's climax, isn't nearly as big a deal as it's made out to be. But overall it provides a highly satisfying look at a man who doesn't generally receive a lot of attention. The look at the workings of the Empire is fascinating, as is the speculation sure to be raised about what sort of hints are being dropped about The Force Awakens. And Tarkin's personal history is truly interesting. Just don't go in expecting to see much in the way of sympathetic characters.

There are a lot of nice nuggets of information of how Tarkin came to be the way he is and the events that shaped his relationship with Darth Vader. The problem is these nuggets are hidden in a narrative that never quite drew me in. For me the writing was very 'wordy' and never really seemed to focus my attention while I was reading. I found myself not really caring how would ultimately win out during the book.

****SPOILERISH****

The novel starts 5 years after "Revenge of the Sith" with Tarkin in charge of the base building the Death Star (mobile battle station as the call it). The base is attacked forcing Tarkin and Vader to work together to uncover a plot against the empire and to track down the rebels.

Throughout the investigation you start learn about how Tarkin was raised and his experiences on Eriadu. One of those skills being wilderness several and how he used those lessons to raise through the ranks within the Empire. The book shows Tarkin as being incredibly smart ,calm, and collected while tracking down some rebels and uncovering the plot against the empire. The book also does a good job showing why Vader starts to respect.

The best part of the novel didn't have anything to do with Tarkin, but you learn why Palpatine was able to become so strong as a Sith while in Coruscant.

The problem is these facts are all lost in convoluted story line that I person stopped caring about.

Imagine a Sherlock Holmes story in which Tarkin plays the lead and the part of Watson is played by a space wizard with anger issues. And they both work FOR Moriarty. I liked this book. Learning Tarkin's back story has changed him from a B character to an A player in Star Wars land. Enjoyed seeing Vader And Tarkin's different methods for achieving the same goal. Vader is a force of nature. Tarkin is a thinking man's villain. It was also refreshing to see the Emperor being caught of guard and having to play catchup. Listened to it on Audible. It was very well done with music and sound effects. The narrator really nailed Tarkin's voice and timing. I will definitely listen to it again.

UPDATE: I have listened to this audiobook a couple more times and have decided that it is my favorite, so far, of the new Star Wars books. It really is a detective novel in space. Tarkin's back story is one of the most compelling in the Star Wars universe. And I would like to restate how enjoyable an experience it is to listen to this story. Narrator and music/sound effects are the best. You can see it all in your head.

One of the most dastardly villains in the Star Wars universe came and went with an all too early bang along with the Death Star: Peter Cushing’s Grand Moff Tarkin in Episode IV, A New Hope. The then wasted opportunity to get to know this fascinated character is finally made available by this novel and readers will rejoice!

A leader with the guts to blow up a fully developed world deserved more than the quick death on the Death Star. We never learned who he was, how he got to where he was, how in charge he really was, and what could drive a man to that horrendous atrocity. But here we do. James Luceno takes the Star Wars universe in a slight historical detour to tell the story of Tarkin’s rise to power in the Empire. Without spoiling too much, he begins with his outer rim birth and how he was raised to how he overcame perceptions and earned the respect of those in power, specifically Darth Vader and the Emperor.

Luceno’s great accomplishment is how he has readers cheering for Tarkin’s success. We grow to like him and understand his decisions. (Obviously not those decisions in the movies, but the decisions prior to those that made up his character.) I don’t recall the last time I rooted for the bad guy. I’m not talking anti-hero here, but actual bad guy.

This story isn’t just back story on a single character though. We see scenes where Palpatine rules and makes decisions, further fleshing out that character as well. After all, we see so little of how he ruled in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. The one character we don’t learn as much about is Vader, but frankly we know quite a bit about him so that criticism is unfair.

Not everything is perfect though. The rebels tend to be rehashes of Star Wars cliché characters. The leader is Han with Leah’s moral compass; the others are tag-alongs you could see in nearly any book in the series. Indistinct is the best way to describe them. But they aren’t the focus. Tarkin is and when the story sticks to him it shines.

In my opinion, one of the best Star Wars books in recent years and one of my unexpected favorite reads of 2014.

A note about the audio version: Morton is excellent. His Tarkin reminds us of the film version. His Vader – thanks to audio editing and effects – works great. The Emperor is outstandingly close to the original. Very well done. Plus you get all the great radio drama sound effects we are accustomed to in Star Wars audio books.

The audiobook was provided by the publisher for review.

This is not as good as Luceno's magisterial "Plagueis," but it's pretty good overall. I "read" this book as an audiobook, which may have helped drama to some of the slower parts of the book that people complain about in other reviews.

I admit that I got tired at points of the story of Tarkin trying to retake the Carrion Spike, and actually found his scenes with the Emperor and Vader to be a lot more interesting. Perhaps even better than those scenes were the flashbacks to Tarkin's past. For the most part these were well done and explain why he was so ruthless and believed in ruling by fear so strongly in A New Hope. I don't get the sense that he actually instilled fear in most of the wildlife of his planet as he was off on his training adventures, so perhaps that somewhat undercuts what Luceno's trying to depict with those scenes. But, without giving it away too much, just when you think Tarkin's incompetent because he's been repeatedly bested by a bunch of nobodies he "saves the day" and proves why he is such an important figure in the Imperial hierarchy. This comes a bit late in the story, but Luceno manages to tie it altogether in a way that doesn't detract from Tarkin, Vader, or the Emperor. There's a reason these guys are on top, and that's clear by the end of the book.

SPOILERS: Fans of the old EU stories, "Legends," will be happy to know that as the novel progresses, Luceno saves more and more of the old EU planets and characters. He mentions Ysanne Isard's father, the Imperial Academy on Carida, and dozens of planets and sectors familiar to any one he read the EU or ever bought the wonderful Star War Atlas published a few years ago by DK. At the end of the novel, he strongly suggests that the Death Star is completed someplace other than Geonosis, perhaps allowing the old EU canon that it was built in a cluster of blackholes near Kessel to survive as well. Note he doesn't actually say that's what happened, but he ends the book by saying the Death Star is charting a path into the Deep Core. Personally, I didn't care for the Jedi Academy trilogy, so if someone comes along and explains where the Death Star ended up and the rest of the story and Qwi Xux, the Death Star prototype, Sun Crusher, etc. don't survive, well, it's probably addition by subtraction.

*I received this book as an eARC from Random House Publishing Group - Del Rey Spectrain in exchange for an honest review*

This is the second book in the new Star Wars canon. I really hung on to every detail in this book. Any Expanded Universe things mentioned made me perk up, seeing them acknowledged in the new canon.

This takes place 5 years after Revenge of the Sith. The interactions between Tarkin and Vader are very interesting. They are both becoming the characters they will be in A New Hope.

This book follows Tarkin as he addresses a kidnapping and potential threat to the Empire. During this mission, Tarkin reminisces on how he has become the man he is. I liked seeing his origins paralleled with Palpatine's. They are both from Outer Rim worlds.

I liked the character development and backstory more than the actual story that was happening. The perspective isn't exclusively Tarkin's, switching to both Vader and Palpatine as well as the rebels. I call them rebels, but they are not the Rebels we know from the original series.

I give this novel a 3.5/5. I enjoyed delving into Tarkin's backstory and seeing what makes him tick, but the actual story of the novel didn't interest me. If you are a superfan of Star Wars like me then this is a book you probably want to pick up. I don't think it's a necessary read for casual fans.

Grand Moff Tarkin has never been a character I put very much interest in but when I heard that Luceno was helming this book I had to check it out. “Tarkin” is as much an origin story as it is a ship chase. We get glimpses of pivotal moments in Tarkin's youth that helped shape him into the, let's be honest, heartless creep that he is in both TCW and ANH. These are told through what amount to flashback sequences that mirror events as the Governor (and Vader) chase troublemaking shipjackers across the galaxy. The problem is that throughout the entire novel there's really very little dialogue compared to how much exposition and walls o' text there are. Luceno handles these wonderfully, but at times they were a bit of a struggle to get through simply because there was so much in one part of the story.

Tarkin's relationship with both Darth Vader and Palpatine is given a little more substance and complexity than we've seen on-screen, so that's a big plus (honestly, if there were a book that was nothing but Tarkin and Vader sassing each other I'd tear through it in a heartbeat). The links and foreshadowing to the Death Star, Tarkin's own fiery demise, and even the change in Imperial uniforms are also pleasant nods that I quite enjoyed catching.

Tarkin is another great book by James Luceno. The backstory of Tarkin was really interesting and helped me understand why he was such an important character in the Star Wars’ lore. Tarkin has appeared in the original trilogy, the Clone Wars series, and now in the Rebels series. This tale is about Tarkin and Vader searching for some rebels making attacks on bases. It was great to read the interactions between Tarkin and Vader and to witness their mutual respect for each other. The back story that is interspersed throughout the new tale helped me gain a new understanding and respect for Tarkin and what he went through to get where he was when we first met him in A New Hope. I actually found myself rooting for him throughout the story. If you are already a fan of James Luceno then you can’t miss this book but if you haven’t read anything by him before give this book a try, you’ll definitely enjoy it. This is the second novel in the new “canon” but doesn’t change any of the history that fans have come to learn and enjoy.

No Spoilers

So this one was a lot harder for me to read because I'm not really that into the "political thriller" type genre. There was also a lot of information to get through about characters I've not overly fond of in the first place, Like Vader and Palpatine. I honestly bought this book after hearing the short audio drama they made with sound effects and music, but was disappointed that the actually audio book was not nearly as extensive. (I did not actually listen to it, I was advised beforehand).

Good points first, the voices of each of the characters was spot on. Some other reviewers mentioned you could really hear Peter Cushing when reading Tarkin, and they were correct. The time period was also a particularly interesting one, and on context alone we learn some really cool world building regarding the Empire and the Sith in general. It was cool to get into Tarkins head, however, I felt a full length novel was too much for me personally.

As far as why I gave 3 instead of 4 stars; the above mentioned was really all I found particularly compelling. The story was slow and a bit lackluster, and was mostly just kind of a military chase thriller. While this isn't inherently a bad thing, I thought it did drag on a bit at times, taking the "thrill" out of the actual story, and kind of defeating it's own purpose.

Still a very pretty compelling character piece, and if you are into military drama, you would definitely find this one more enjoyable than I did.

It's as if someone watched the prequels and thought the politics were the best parts. There's a couple Vader moments that are fun villainy moments and Tarkins' flashbacks might have made a good short story, but otherwise it's a lot of talking. The chase of Tarkins' car jackers goes on WAY too long: Tarkin sets a trap, but they get away; Tarkin sets a trap, but they get away. It's interesting once, but loses stream quickly. The Emperor has been reduced to an overworked bureaucrat. Introduction of his political minions keep repeating; it's as if the author knew you wouldn't remember who's who (or didn't care) and reintroduces then at each appearance. The old ("Legends") personae dramitis was sorely missed. And the conversations about who's in charge of this or that Intelligent branch and the alphabet soup of names (I must have missed the introduction of COMPNOR which is frequently referenced and eventually had to Google it). Unfortunately, every new Star Wars book is going to be treated as a barometer of the future of the the saga. Hopefully this book is an outlier because it totally missed the mark of what I want in a Star Wars book

Tarkin was a wonderful counterpoint to A New Dawn. It focused especially on Tarkin, fleshing him out in ways that you never knew that you wanted. Tarkin isn't shown with some revolutionary background that completely sheds a different light on A New Hope, but we look more deeply at the man who controls the Death Star to enter his mind and understand what he is thinking during A New Hope. This, to me, is the best part about the book.

The side characters are the first of its problems. They're woefully underdeveloped and a bit generic. I didn't feel like these characters stood out much as Rebels or antagonists. Sure, they caused Tarkin problems but they never showed true ingenuity and never really outsmarted him. The only person Tarkin was fighting in the book was himself as his ship was the main cause of his problems. If the book was designed to show how calculating and smart Tarkin was, I would have thought that more cunning Rebel villains would have been appropriate.

Darth Vader's cameo was really good, but had some spots that I thought were confusingly underdeveloped. All in all, it was a good book and I recommend that die-hard Star Wars fans check it out. More casual fans might not find anything to like with a slow plot, weak side characters and villains, and an exposition of a character they may not think about twice.

Luceno has written these tie-along Star Wars books for a while. For the most part, they are fun to read to add a little background to what you see in the movies.

This one tells a little story about the Grand Moff who defy's the evacuation order at the end of Episode IV. It takes place a few years after Episode III so you have Tarkin interacting with an excited Emperor and a minted Darth Vader.

Some of the background story might be a little boring to anyone other than the strictly die-hard fans. (those who have entire rooms devoted to the mythology) But whenever the familiar characters appear on the page, I was sinking into my reading chair and not going anywhere.

Luceno is a talented writer. I enjoy his Star Wars books.

Look forward to others.

This book was provided for review, at no cost, by Random House

Star Wars: Tarkin
by James Luceno
Known as the vile Grand Moff Tarkin in the original volume 4 of Star Wars, this book looks into the life, youth, and advancement of Tarkin. Was he a man of ambition, was he a man of greed, and how did he play in the government of the galaxy? He was the third leg in control of the empire. How did he achieve his place in the governess of the universe? This book makes you connect to the characters in ways you would not expect. The mystery of Vader, the hope of the Emperor, and the cold heart-ed nature of Tarkin come into question. Your knowledge of black and white may be stretched by the author of this book as you hope they catch their man, find the criminals and save the Empire. This is a great book to suspend your sense of reality, and a great introduction to the other side of the force.

Being the huge Star Wars fan that I am, people expect me to like the Expanded Universe and I really don't. That is to say, the previous EU written before Disney bought the rights. There was only a few books I actually liked: Shadows of the Empire, Dark Empire and I thought the Thrawn Trilogy was kind of dull and mediocre, but occasionally fun.

But when I saw this book about Grand Moff Tarkin, a character I'd always wanted to know more about, I just had to read it. So this is my introduction to The New Expanded Universe and so far it's gotten my attention and I'm ready for more.

This should go without saying, but don't expect this story to be the actiony, adventure the likes of the movies. This is simply a delving into the character of Wilhuff Tarkin. And it's pretty much what I'd hoped it to be.

••••••SPOILERS AHEAD••••••
Everything the author has Tarkin do seems exactly what you'd expect Tarkin to do. However, he has an interesting backstory that is established through flashbacks. Yeah there are quite a bit of them, but they're not too annoying and they really help develop the character. That being said, the other characters don't always seem like the characters we know.

When we're first introduced to Vader, he kills a Moff in front of a large audience of imperials at a gathering and while that sounds typical Vader, he does other things that aren't. There's one scene where Vader is angry because he has to search through a pile of shipping crates for a tracking device. So he grumbles about it until he decides to get a stormtrooper to finish then runs through the middle of the crates, pushing them away by use of The Force.

The most interesting parts of the story to me were the ones that established Tarkin's relationship with Palpatine, having known him since his years as a senator and his relationship with Vader. There are times when he actually mentors Vader, telling him stories of his youth and so forth.

The story tends to get dull and long-winded at times as I'm finding through other reviews of the author is a common thing. That being said, overall, it was a pretty fun read.

A return to something resembling the quality of the old EU (Legends) tales. There are some rough edges, but I get the feeling that those are more due to the uncertainties of the new cannon limiting some of the depth of world that made "Darth Plagueis" so pivotal. "Tarkin" does a good job of sticking to the characters' personalities as we understand them from the films as well as creating a story-line mostly free of the illogical plot holes riddling other new cannon works such as "Aftermath". Of the post-Disney Star Wars publications, this one is my favorite to date without a doubt,

Tarkin is a fantastic and fascinating study of Wilhuff Tarkin. It is written well, the plot is suspenseful and has depth, and every ounce of dialogue and action is believable. Interesting characters such as Vizier Amedda, worlds such as Murkhana and Eriadu, and ships (such as the Interdictor) are all quite at home throughout. You will understand what Tarkin went through to become the man he eventually was, you will get a glimpse at the Royal Court of the Emperor, and you will learn about the construction of the Death Star. On top of that, there are intense space skirmishes, uneasy dealings with smugglers and criminals, and magnificent detail when Luceno describes the settings. This book is amazing and is quite important to Star Wars. I suggest that you give it a shot- you will not be disappointed.

I didn't know what to expect going in. Writing about a commander in the Empire would be difficult to be made interesting. He's not a direct combatant normally so I was pleasantly surprised when they spent a little time explaining how he became the man who blew up a planet.

Tarkin tells the story of a tough as nails man willing to beat down anything that could pose a threat and more as a means to let others know the price of crossing the Empire. He shows his tactical genius and knowledge of history to figure out who is against him then moves to take them out permanently.

A very successful book that also gives us the story behind his connection with Darth Vader. I am excited to see what the next Star Wars books bring.

Unlike the hack wendig, James Luceno has done a great job! Even though micky mouse wiped the EU (which may be a good thing or a bad thing) James Luceno has done great in picking up the pieces and mining the old EU for the many gems hidden in it.

The plot may have been slightly on the weak side. But his characterisation and settings were spot on and the rapport between Vador, the Emperor and Tarkin were excellent.

Loved the Dark Forces references too! And the brning in of great old EU characters like Screed, Isard and Sate Prestege along with re-establishing some of the great ships back into cannon like the Carrack and Interdictor!

I hope that Disney comes to the light side and bring back the experienced EU writers like they have Luceno who produced some of the better EU novels. Take note mikey mouse you will make more money long term useing tied and tested Writers like Luceno here creating gems like this than hacks like Wendig churning out turds like Aftermath......

Great back story for one of the most intriguing characters in the Star Wars universe. The man who killed Alderaan is studied and explored in this book, as a rich back story brings him to life. This is a good contrast to A New Dawn, which is a fast paced action story.

We meet the ruthless Wilhulf Tarkin 5 years after Revenge of the Sith. The Empire is being harried by persons unknown, with the ability to hack into the Imperial HoloNet communications network. Do they have any connection to the defeated Separatist movement? Tarkin is on the case, in a very character-driven piece that tells of his upbringing, and how those lessons shaped the man he is under the Empire.

Of course, we learn very little about the conspirators, as Tarkin and Vader push forward with a ruthless efficiency. Casual brutality is on display from the 'dark triumvirate' of Tarkin, Vader, and the Emperor. It's high time that we explore Tarkin's character, and Luceno makes every descriptive page count.

At the end of this book, you may love Tarkin, or hate him, but you will have a better understanding of him. His staggering atrocity of Alderaanian genocide hangs in his future, but like the Death Star itself, it looms large in this book, an unforgettable doom awaiting him. His life ended after he killed a planet. And this book sheds some long overdue light on how he became the cold monster we glimpsed so briefly on film. No other actor but Peter Cushing could do him justice, and I think that no other author could either.

'Tarkin' was what I had hoped would be a glimpse into the character made famous by the 'A New Hope' movie, what those of us who weren't there in 1977 call Episode IV. It did not disappoint, where he was an anti-hero, one whose place in the Star Wars universe was well earned. It was a fun novel that answered questions I didn't mind having answered.

My god, this is a boring book. Tarkin is a good character, but who really cares about his origins? I had to really struggle to get through it. Never want to read it, or any other new S.W. books again.

Tarkin by James Luceno follows the life of Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin from his upbringing in a noble house on Eriadu through his mission with none other than Darth Vader to quell a group of rebels opposing the rule of the newly-established Galactic Empire. Maybe the word “rebels” has too many positive connotations, especially in regards to the Star Wars universe. Better words to describe them would be “dissidents” or “terrorists” as they go on a reign of terror destroying Imperial strongholds, killing innocent citizens, and spreading anti-Imperial propaganda to incite fear in the echelons of the Imperial government. Believing in the glory of the Empire’s cause, Tarkin is eager to work with the Emperor’s personal executioner to end this threat once and for all.

Tarkin may be my favorite Star Wars antihero novel to date. This is because, unlike many other Star Wars books I’ve read, this book doesn’t have to rely solely on huge space battles, lightsaber duels, or crazy force powers to tell a consistent narrative, though there is some great action in this book. Instead much of the story is told through more subtle modes of storytelling: dialogue and narration. This helps to streamline the story by focusing it on the development of Wilhuff Tarkin which is absolutely necessary for antihero stories. Without this focus antiheroes simply become unlikable protagonists. No matter what scene he’s in, Tarkin always comes off as a precise, disciplined, and pragmatic individual. Simply from the way he acts to the way he speaks, more can be said about Tarkin’s character in a few pages than has been said about Luke, Leia, and Han over several books. It was also fascinating to read how other characters react to Tarkin, some with disgust, others with awe. This really helped to add additional depth to Tarkin’s character. Additionally the progression of the story in regards to Tarkin’s character is extremely well done. Although he comes from a noble household on Eriadu, it isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. While it is definitely one of the more civilized planets of the galaxy, it still rests in the Outer Rim. As such Tarkin had to grow up experiencing both upper class life and the wilds of the galactic outskirts. This logically caused him to develop into a disciplined, efficient, man unafraid to be ruthless when necessary. When he finally grows up to be the man we all know in A New Hope, it is not only appropriate, but also inspiring given the trials he faces.

Other interesting characters include the dissidents themselves who act as great foils to Tarkin. Luceno makes it no secret that the tactics they use aren’t too different from those of Tarkin’s. The Moff’s quote from Episode 4, “Fear will keep the local systems in line”, most certainly applies to the actions of the terrorists, only instead, they use fear to keep the Empire in line. (The definition of terrorist is “One who uses violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes.” Doesn’t that make Tarkin a terrorist too? Hmm…) This really helps to make a black-and-white Star Wars concept, Empire vs. Rebels, into something most definitely wishy-washy grey and provokes the reader to ask the question of who is actually in the right. On top of using fear, both sides play mind games against the other by trying to predict the actions of the other. As expected from any good game of cat-and-mouse, these predictions don’t always ring true. This gives a Moriarty to Tarkin’s Holmes or perhaps a Superman to Tarkin’s Lex Luthor if you prefer.

When this book was first announced I came in expecting Darth Plagueis meets Grand Admiral Thrawn and boy was I not disappointed! Just like Thrawn, James Luceno has crafted an extremely complex antihero who believes in order above all else and frequently has us rooting for him when the chips are down. In the end, if you can’t sympathize with Tarkin as a character, at the very least you will most definitely respect him. Though we may never get the Thrawn origin story fans so desperately want (between the Disney acquisition and the fact that Timothy Zahn is pretty tight-lipped about Thrawn’s past) I truly believe this makes up for it.

ALTERNATE BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS: How about a few other great anti-hero stories in the Star Wars universe? I recommend Darth Plagueis also by James Luceno, Shatterpoint by Matthew Stover, and Path of Destruction by Drew Karpyshyn. These books follow the lives of Darth Plagueis (and Palpatine), Mace Windu, and Darth Bane respectively. Additionally while Path of Destruction is the first of the Darth Bane trilogy it still serves as a standalone story so reading the second and third books is entirely optional.

It's an OK story with some interesting background on Tarkin and some other tidbits (he knew Vader was Anikin, the emperor's first name is Sheev), but I found it hard to follow. One moment it's bogged down in internal monologue, the next we're thrown into the middle of the action.

Tarkin by James Luceno
Second book I have read for the "new canon" (or simply canon, since Expanded Universe has been rebranded as Legends). Was excited to know that Luceno was assigned this book after reading previous Star Wars most notably Darth Plagueis, it was good that some of the personaly traits were explored specially why is ruthless and calculating after being trained in the wilderness by a family member.
The action is not fast pace and at times it reads a little more like a mystery. Will be interesting to see if more is planned around Tarkin's history

The book was well written technically with the exception of the group the stole the Carrion Spike. These characters seemed wooden and there were too many to keep track of. Also, there were just too many instances of Tarken Harkenening back to his time on the plateau. It was interesting at first but by the end of the novel it was a chore. I know Tarkin needs a past but sending your teenager out in the wilderness where he could very well die isn't a realistic things parents do. Its also a cliche to send him out on a hunt or what have to try to 'make a man out of him. Then, near the end of the novel Tarken describes his times on the plateau to Vader, and honestly, Vader would not listen to idle conversation like that. It has some good points and that's reason for 3 stars. This just didn't hit the mark like it could have. Not Luceno' s best. Some novels are hard to put down. This was hard to pick up.

An amazing look at a underdeveloped character. What I loved about the book was looking at the reasons the separatist rebelled. As much as people hate Episode 1, that fact that the corrupt Senate allowed such an event to occur, you should ask your self how often did similar events occur. It was easy to hate the Jedi when they where fighting for and supporting such a corrupt system of government. With With me reading a first edition copy, I expect double words to vanish with other edition.

To many of us Governor/Moff Wilhuff Tarkin is the Imperial Officer who wielded the power of the Emperor’s greatest weapon, stood on even ground with Darth Vader, and destroyed an entire planet to make a point in his small but effective screen time in the original Star Wars movie. Now you can experience his childhood. Thus providing him the foundation to conquer the galactic Politics in a galaxy far far away, and the nerves to mercilessly lead in Imperial Navy.

If you truly want to know how he becomes the man on the moon sized battle station you will have to pick this book up and be astonished.

Tarkin was a pretty good Star Wars Novel and a decent way to kick start the new canon. Even though it is of the new canon it actually incorporates a few elements of the legends EU, like the Imperial Academy on Carida for example. It was a pretty serious read that makes Tarkin a whole lot better than just him in A New Hope. If you have read this or plan to read this and like it then I definitely recommend reading Luceno's Legends Novels that are some of the best material in the EU. That being said, this book is not as good as most of the Legends material overall but would rate somewhere above the worst EU books, so I decided to give it a Three.

Nice book. Great back story of who Tarkin was and what made him that way. The interactions Vader and Takrin have in A New Hope make a little more sense after reading this book. I am a fan of Star Wars but still have a lot to learn.

I enjoy most Star Wars Novels. Luceno delivers a well thought out story and really dives into Tarkin from start to finish. I enjoyed several of the plot reveals. I enjoyed Palpatine's portions most because they seemed concise and intriguing. However, there is quite a few moments within the book where for what ever reason I just lost interest in Tarkin. I try not to skip pages when I read but I found myself skimming at times just to wade through some of the exposition or "storytelling" that was fleshed out. This does not take away from the overall content of the story but distracts from the reading. It felt at times Luceno was getting a bit wordy and redundant. Overall a good read, just not a great read.

James Luceno takes readers on a trip through the formative years of the man who would become Grand Moff Tarkin. From his privileged childhood on an outer rim world, we learn about the most formative years of Tarkin's life and the role his familial history plays in creating the man he would become. But this book is more than a character study; beyond acquainting the reader with Tarkin, we are also treated to a political thriller/mystery story which illustrates the burgeoning friendship between Tarkin and Darth Vader. This book is beautifully written and presents readers with a deeper understanding of how Tarkin becomes the man seen in Star Wars.

I really enjoyed this book. I thought that it perfectly explained the relationship between Vader and Tarkin that we see in episode 4: A New Hope. This book follows Tarkin who was newly appointed to Grand Moff and Darth Vader being sent on a mission to find and capture a cruiser. Though out the mission they come to fully understand and respect each other, so much so that they will openly call each other friends. With 247 pages, it's a fare read for a young adult book. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Star Wars lore.
book review by: Will Murphy

This is the first book based on film characters and film events in the new Star Wars canon, and it is a solid read. It reveals the history of Governor Tarkin, one of the saga's best villains and the least explored. The main tale is set five years after the events of Revenge of the Sith, but Tarkin's story is told from youth to gaining the title of Imperial Grand Moff, the third most powerful being in the galaxy. This is also the story of Tarkin and Darth Vader learning to respect one another and work together.

The book was billed as giving Tarkin the "Darth Plagueis" treatment, but this book isn't as memorable or as interesting as Lucenos' exploration of Palpatine and his master. The history of Tarkin as a youth and his rise to power was fascinating, but the main story, particularly during the middle of the book, was hard to keep interested in. The end pulled everything together though and left me satisfied.

The story of how Tarkin's upbringing would leave him a man willing to destroy an entire world to maintain order is a story worth telling, but there are several things in the book that make you wonder what the author was thinking. The best example of this is the first chapter, which is almost solely devoted to Tarkin and a fashion droid (yes, a fashion droid) designing Tarkin's Imperial uniform. What this really necessary?

With regards to the new canon, this book could have been released two years ago and would have fit into the EU fine. It references several old books and lots of information established in the EU. But this is done in a way that someone who hadn't read those stories wouldn't even notice that they were references of something else.

The big thing that many Star Wars fans with notice is that Palpatine is given a first name, "Sheev." The thing I found odd about this was that the name is said to have originated from George Lucas, who is now retired and didn't bother to give this name out at any point in the last 35 years. On top of this, Luceno was the author who gave the perfect explanation in Darth Plagueis that Palpatine choose not to have a first name.

All in all a good story, but not a great one. And I am left wanting to go read Death Star which I imagine will make a good continuation of this story for me.

Four out of five stars.

Hey idiots at the store. Why on earth would we pay $10 for a kindle version and only $7 for an actual printed version?

I'm seeing this alot lately. You guys suck at pricing your e-versions of books. Digital costs you nothing, and yet you continue to screw over those of us who bought Kindles.

We all knew Tarkin was ruthless and driven, now we understand how he got to be that way a little more clearly. A fantastic addition to canon. We see Tarkin and Vader continuing their solid team that began during the Clone Wars. You will walk away with a greater appreciation for both Tarkin and Vader.

Tarkin by James Luceno follows the life of Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin from his upbringing in a noble house on Eriadu through his mission with none other than Darth Vader to quell a group of rebels opposing the rule of the newly-established Galactic Empire. Maybe the word “rebels” has too many positive connotations, especially in regards to the Star Wars universe. Better words to describe them would be “dissidents” or “terrorists” as they go on a reign of terror destroying Imperial strongholds, killing innocent citizens, and spreading anti-Imperial propaganda to incite fear in the echelons of the Imperial government. Believing in the glory of the Empire’s cause, Tarkin is eager to work with the Emperor’s personal executioner to end this threat once and for all.

Tarkin may be my favorite Star Wars antihero novel to date. This is because, unlike many other Star Wars books I’ve read, this book doesn’t have to rely solely on huge space battles, lightsaber duels, or crazy force powers to tell a consistent narrative, though there is some great action in this book. Instead much of the story is told through more subtle modes of storytelling: dialogue and narration. This helps to streamline the story by focusing it on the development of Wilhuff Tarkin which is absolutely necessary for antihero stories. Without this focus antiheroes simply become unlikable protagonists. No matter what scene he’s in, Tarkin always comes off as a precise, disciplined, and pragmatic individual. Simply from the way he acts to the way he speaks, more can be said about Tarkin’s character in a few pages than has been said about Luke, Leia, and Han over several books. It was also fascinating to read how other characters react to Tarkin, some with disgust, others with awe. This really helped to add additional depth to Tarkin’s character. Additionally the progression of the story in regards to Tarkin’s character is extremely well done. Although he comes from a noble household on Eriadu, it isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. While it is definitely one of the more civilized planets of the galaxy, it still rests in the Outer Rim. As such Tarkin had to grow up experiencing both upper class life and the wilds of the galactic outskirts. This logically caused him to develop into a disciplined, efficient, man unafraid to be ruthless when necessary. When he finally grows up to be the man we all know in A New Hope, it is not only appropriate, but also inspiring given the trials he faces.

Other interesting characters include the dissidents themselves who act as great foils to Tarkin. Luceno makes it no secret that the tactics they use aren’t too different from those of Tarkin’s. The Moff’s quote from Episode 4, “Fear will keep the local systems in line”, most certainly applies to the actions of the terrorists, only instead, they use fear to keep the Empire in line. (The definition of terrorist is “One who uses violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes.” Doesn’t that make Tarkin a terrorist too? Hmm…) This really helps to make a black-and-white Star Wars concept, Empire vs. Rebels, into something most definitely wishy-washy grey and provokes the reader to ask the question of who is actually in the right. On top of using fear, both sides play mind games against the other by trying to predict the actions of the other. As expected from any good game of cat-and-mouse, these predictions don’t always ring true. This gives a Moriarty to Tarkin’s Holmes or perhaps a Superman to Tarkin’s Lex Luthor if you prefer.

When this book was first announced I came in expecting Darth Plagueis meets Grand Admiral Thrawn and boy was I not disappointed! Just like Thrawn, James Luceno has crafted an extremely complex antihero who believes in order above all else and frequently has us rooting for him when the chips are down. In the end, if you can’t sympathize with Tarkin as a character, at the very least you will most definitely respect him. Though we may never get the Thrawn origin story fans so desperately want (between the Disney acquisition and the fact that Timothy Zahn is pretty tight-lipped about Thrawn’s past) I truly believe this makes up for it.

ALTERNATE BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS: How about a few other great anti-hero stories in the Star Wars universe? I recommend Darth Plagueis also by James Luceno, Shatterpoint by Matthew Stover, and Path of Destruction by Drew Karpyshyn. These books follow the lives of Darth Plagueis (and Palpatine), Mace Windu, and Darth Bane respectively. Additionally while Path of Destruction is the first of the Darth Bane trilogy it still serves as a standalone story so reading the second and third books is entirely optional.

It's an OK story with some interesting background on Tarkin and some other tidbits (he knew Vader was Anikin, the emperor's first name is Sheev), but I found it hard to follow. One moment it's bogged down in internal monologue, the next we're thrown into the middle of the action.

Tarkin by James Luceno
Second book I have read for the "new canon" (or simply canon, since Expanded Universe has been rebranded as Legends). Was excited to know that Luceno was assigned this book after reading previous Star Wars most notably Darth Plagueis, it was good that some of the personaly traits were explored specially why is ruthless and calculating after being trained in the wilderness by a family member.
The action is not fast pace and at times it reads a little more like a mystery. Will be interesting to see if more is planned around Tarkin's history

The book was well written technically with the exception of the group the stole the Carrion Spike. These characters seemed wooden and there were too many to keep track of. Also, there were just too many instances of Tarken Harkenening back to his time on the plateau. It was interesting at first but by the end of the novel it was a chore. I know Tarkin needs a past but sending your teenager out in the wilderness where he could very well die isn't a realistic things parents do. Its also a cliche to send him out on a hunt or what have to try to 'make a man out of him. Then, near the end of the novel Tarken describes his times on the plateau to Vader, and honestly, Vader would not listen to idle conversation like that. It has some good points and that's reason for 3 stars. This just didn't hit the mark like it could have. Not Luceno' s best. Some novels are hard to put down. This was hard to pick up.

An amazing look at a underdeveloped character. What I loved about the book was looking at the reasons the separatist rebelled. As much as people hate Episode 1, that fact that the corrupt Senate allowed such an event to occur, you should ask your self how often did similar events occur. It was easy to hate the Jedi when they where fighting for and supporting such a corrupt system of government. With With me reading a first edition copy, I expect double words to vanish with other edition.

To many of us Governor/Moff Wilhuff Tarkin is the Imperial Officer who wielded the power of the Emperor’s greatest weapon, stood on even ground with Darth Vader, and destroyed an entire planet to make a point in his small but effective screen time in the original Star Wars movie. Now you can experience his childhood. Thus providing him the foundation to conquer the galactic Politics in a galaxy far far away, and the nerves to mercilessly lead in Imperial Navy.

If you truly want to know how he becomes the man on the moon sized battle station you will have to pick this book up and be astonished.

When I saw this book was coming out I was very excited, this was a character I have always wanted to know more about. I checked out the audio book from my local library and I really enjoyed it, so much so I went out and bought the hardcover. The book was well written and I enjoyed the reader on this audio book. I enjoyed learning the dynamics in the relationships between Tarkin, Darth Vader, and the Emperor. The plot was well thought out and I enjoyed the "murder mystery" style of figuring out the plans of the pre "rebel scum" trying to ruin Tarkin. I was very interested in learning some of the events that lead to the Death Star. Very good book all around. I am looking forward to more of these "CANON" books!

Tarkin was a pretty good Star Wars Novel and a decent way to kick start the new canon. Even though it is of the new canon it actually incorporates a few elements of the legends EU, like the Imperial Academy on Carida for example. It was a pretty serious read that makes Tarkin a whole lot better than just him in A New Hope. If you have read this or plan to read this and like it then I definitely recommend reading Luceno's Legends Novels that are some of the best material in the EU. That being said, this book is not as good as most of the Legends material overall but would rate somewhere above the worst EU books, so I decided to give it a Three.

Nice book. Great back story of who Tarkin was and what made him that way. The interactions Vader and Takrin have in A New Hope make a little more sense after reading this book. I am a fan of Star Wars but still have a lot to learn.

I enjoy most Star Wars Novels. Luceno delivers a well thought out story and really dives into Tarkin from start to finish. I enjoyed several of the plot reveals. I enjoyed Palpatine's portions most because they seemed concise and intriguing. However, there is quite a few moments within the book where for what ever reason I just lost interest in Tarkin. I try not to skip pages when I read but I found myself skimming at times just to wade through some of the exposition or "storytelling" that was fleshed out. This does not take away from the overall content of the story but distracts from the reading. It felt at times Luceno was getting a bit wordy and redundant. Overall a good read, just not a great read.

James Luceno takes readers on a trip through the formative years of the man who would become Grand Moff Tarkin. From his privileged childhood on an outer rim world, we learn about the most formative years of Tarkin's life and the role his familial history plays in creating the man he would become. But this book is more than a character study; beyond acquainting the reader with Tarkin, we are also treated to a political thriller/mystery story which illustrates the burgeoning friendship between Tarkin and Darth Vader. This book is beautifully written and presents readers with a deeper understanding of how Tarkin becomes the man seen in Star Wars.

I really enjoyed this book. I thought that it perfectly explained the relationship between Vader and Tarkin that we see in episode 4: A New Hope. This book follows Tarkin who was newly appointed to Grand Moff and Darth Vader being sent on a mission to find and capture a cruiser. Though out the mission they come to fully understand and respect each other, so much so that they will openly call each other friends. With 247 pages, it's a fare read for a young adult book. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Star Wars lore.
book review by: Will Murphy

This is the first book based on film characters and film events in the new Star Wars canon, and it is a solid read. It reveals the history of Governor Tarkin, one of the saga's best villains and the least explored. The main tale is set five years after the events of Revenge of the Sith, but Tarkin's story is told from youth to gaining the title of Imperial Grand Moff, the third most powerful being in the galaxy. This is also the story of Tarkin and Darth Vader learning to respect one another and work together.

The book was billed as giving Tarkin the "Darth Plagueis" treatment, but this book isn't as memorable or as interesting as Lucenos' exploration of Palpatine and his master. The history of Tarkin as a youth and his rise to power was fascinating, but the main story, particularly during the middle of the book, was hard to keep interested in. The end pulled everything together though and left me satisfied.

The story of how Tarkin's upbringing would leave him a man willing to destroy an entire world to maintain order is a story worth telling, but there are several things in the book that make you wonder what the author was thinking. The best example of this is the first chapter, which is almost solely devoted to Tarkin and a fashion droid (yes, a fashion droid) designing Tarkin's Imperial uniform. What this really necessary?

With regards to the new canon, this book could have been released two years ago and would have fit into the EU fine. It references several old books and lots of information established in the EU. But this is done in a way that someone who hadn't read those stories wouldn't even notice that they were references of something else.

The big thing that many Star Wars fans with notice is that Palpatine is given a first name, "Sheev." The thing I found odd about this was that the name is said to have originated from George Lucas, who is now retired and didn't bother to give this name out at any point in the last 35 years. On top of this, Luceno was the author who gave the perfect explanation in Darth Plagueis that Palpatine choose not to have a first name.

All in all a good story, but not a great one. And I am left wanting to go read Death Star which I imagine will make a good continuation of this story for me.

Four out of five stars.

Hey idiots at the store. Why on earth would we pay $10 for a kindle version and only $7 for an actual printed version?

I'm seeing this alot lately. You guys suck at pricing your e-versions of books. Digital costs you nothing, and yet you continue to screw over those of us who bought Kindles.

We all knew Tarkin was ruthless and driven, now we understand how he got to be that way a little more clearly. A fantastic addition to canon. We see Tarkin and Vader continuing their solid team that began during the Clone Wars. You will walk away with a greater appreciation for both Tarkin and Vader.

I really liked this book and so will the star wars fans who are curious about the background of Tarkin, his relationship with Darth Vader, his history and how he became an important character in the making of the Empire.

I really love this kind of books. They are a great complement to the saga movies because they show you how and why so many thing were done. Is like a behind the scenes. Although I had to read the first 20% of the book before it started to get interesting.

The book is set between episode III and IV, but is jumps backwards sometimes in order to show Tarkin's history and why he thinks the way he does about Law and Order.

Another great book by James Luceno. I hope they keep coming.

I usually don't read Star Wars books, but after a long break, I picked this up on the strength of the recommendations. As I usually read European fiction, I was very curious to the writing style and to see how Luceno portrays Tarkin. I was extremely surprised and pleased with this book. Tarkin emerges as figure harkening back to White Colonial Africa, and the parallels with the history of oppression and colonialism in Africa are clear. This book surpasses the action-sci-fi genre and becomes a political parable and eminently readable portrait of Tarkin. The renderings of Vader, Palpatine, etc., are similarly right on par. I will definitely read more of Luceno's work.

This book was great. One of the biggest mysteries to me has always been the dynamic between Vader and Tarkin. It was touched a bit in the EU I've read, but this was spectacular.
It's a fairly short adventure, and there are exactly enough flashback scenes that they help flesh out Wilhuff but without taking you out of the chase story for too long.

It's great to have more details on characters in the Star Wars Universe and Tarkin is an example of this. I love learning about his history/background, but I kind of wish there was more of this than a present day story of his travels with Vader. That part was good, but not better than his backstory growing up. Still, a good read if you love Star Wars like me! :)

I received a prerelease e-copy of this book through NetGalley (publication date November 2, 2014) with the expectation that I will post a review on their site and others (my blog, Goodreads, Facebook, Google +, LinkedIn, Twitter, the store, etc.).

I requested this book as I have read several others written by James Luceno. This book did not disappoint. I will give you my opinions on this book without giving away the substence of the book. I hate it when reviewers do that and if I read the review first I tend not to read it.

This book fills in the background of Grand Moff Tarkin from his boyhood to command of the Death Star. In addition, it delves into the relationship between Tarkin and Darth Vader. I found it interesting in how the author developed in detail how Tarkin's character and mindset were ingrained while he was a teenager. He did this through a series of flashbacks while continuing the main plot line of the book.

I strongly recommend this book for anyone who is a Star Wars fan. It will even be an enjoyable read for those who have not had much exposure to the Star Wars Universe.

Sometimes, knowing the outcome of a book before you start is a non-starter. This book was different. Even though I know certain people couldn't fail and others couldn't succeed, this story was good enough to keep me reading.

Thanks for the entertainment!

Essential back story on a character that has been given true depth. I watched Episode 4 right after and now felt something other than glee when the DS was destroyed. When Tarkin refers to Vader as an "old friend," in Episode 4, you can see how that begins to develop. Plus, any souce that features the Emperor on his "throne" is worth it for me. Buy it today!

This is probably in the top three for books in the new canon. It was very well written and an intriguing story. It did drag somewhat towards the end, but was enjoyable overall. It was nice that they got an established Star Wars author to handle the backstory of a classic character.

As an avid reader of the Star Wars universe, James Luceno is certainly a favorite of both mine and a vast majority of Star Wars readers. Tarkin is a fantastic journey into the past of the Grand Moff and his ascension to the Emperor-created title. Tarkin's history is both unexpected and extremely entertaining. The tale spans most of Tarkin's life and details in great length the strategies and experiences of the young man as he soars the ranks of Republic/Imperial military.

Euon Morton is not a regular of the Star Wars narrators, but he nevertheless delivered an immersive and entertaining experience for anyone to enjoy.

Tarkin ranks, for me, as one of the worst Star Wars novels written. It just was not very exciting. I usually read through SW novels very quickly; this one took me much longer.
I feel what may have been the biggest problem is that Luceno started off writing one story and was then told that he had to include another one. The story starts off with very little happening in the “present,” 14 years before the battle of Yavin (BBY)/ 5 years after Revenge of the Sith, with most of what’s happening being flashbacks to Tarkin’s youth. Which kind of goes all over the place, from an austere, wealthy upbringing shot through with time spent surviving in a primal nature preserve owned by his family, to time spent in military school, fighting pirates, to a little bit of political involvement.
Then, his ship, a custom built, advanced corvette, gets stolen out from under him and Darth Vader, and the story suddenly shifts, quickly introducing a whole new, throw away cast of rebels, who seem to have an insider somewhere in Emperor Palpatine’s inner circle feeding them instructions and information. The rest of the story is this group of rebels doing minor raids on minor Imperial targets while two very high ranking individuals, Darth Vader and Moff Tarkin, rather ineptly attempt to catch them. To add to the incredulity, the whole Imperial navy goes through a complete reorganization across the galaxy just because one powerful, stealthy corvette attacked one military depot. That depot is even far away from the Core, and the first sentence of the book is about how the further you are from the Core, the less important you are!
There are a large amount of references to other Star Wars properties; some major ones to the Clone Wars TV show and some minor ones to older novels. Most of these felt thrown in and unresolved, almost as if Luceno was trying his best to fit things from the Clone Wars TV show and the Prequel movies in with the now “non-canon” Expanded Universe books.
I ended up very disappointed in the book. I have really liked some of Luceno’s other Star Wars novels, but this one was a complete drag, full of stuff I was never compelled to care about. Darth Vader often felt very out of character; he talked way too much! Takin’s background was uninspiring, the main “protagonists” of the book are abruptly introduced halfway through the book and have very little impact on anything in the larger Star Wars universe, and we get a really tiny look into the construction of the Death Star. I would give this 1.5 stars, but there is no way this earns 2 stars.

The only thing I have to hold against this book is that I can't find it in hard back. This was the first book I have read by James Luceno and I'm happy to say he didn't disappoint, both as an author and as someone writing a Star Wars book. He provided a much more in-depth look into Tarkin that we got on-screen in the original Star Wars going from his childhood, putting down seeds of rebellion, working alongside Darth Vader, and overseeing the construction of the Death Star. Would recommend to any hard-core Star Wars fan as a must read.

“Governor Tarkin, I should have expected to find you holding Vader’s leash. I recognized your foul stench when I was brought on board.” –Princess Leia Organa.

The above is one of the most iconic lines in the Star Wars movies, and presents someone that’s not strong in the force as an equal to Darth Vader. This book is his story and his rise to power in the Empire.

James Luceno has been tapped to write the stories of Darth Vader just after Revenge of the Sith, and also Darth Plagueis, and each time he’s added so much depth to their characters you walked away with a new appreciation. Tarkin is absolutely no different.

This book takes place 5 years after the Clone Wars and follows Wilhuff Tarkin in his quest to gain functionality in the Death Star while dealing with small outbreaks of separatist actions. Through these scenes you are flashed back to Tarkin’s past and get to see how his upbringing plays a big role in how he handles the situations today.

It’s pretty neat to find out the logistics of getting this massive battle station to full functionality. While logistics may not be something that’s exciting to read in most cases, it’s kind of hard to not like reading about a giant moon sized weapon of mass destruction, even if it’s in several pieces.

I’m going to get one thing out of the way here though, this book isn’t going to be for everyone. Tarkin isn’t the type of character that’s a flash in the pan with high action and excitement. The book is filled with these underwhelming moments that absolutely captivate you, even down to the opening of the book where he’s trying to design a uniform. It cuts right through to who Wilhuff Tarkin is.

James Luceno has expertly crafted the developing relationship between Governor Tarkin (soon to be the very first Grand Moff) and the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader. One scene that comes to mind is one of the few traditionally exciting scenes in which Vader is pursuing a cloaked ship through the force, while Tarkin is figuring out a way to deal with them, and figure out what they were doing, and why they were doing it. The interactions between these two help to build you to where the original trilogy picked up.

Luceno also pays a bit of homage to the Clone Wars TV series as well as the new Rebels series by mentioning events that happen in both, and those does well to sharpen the continuity between everything. It also shows us that not everything is being tossed aside from the old continuity. While the old EU is still under the Legends banner there is plenty of room for BOTH to exist at the same time. Right now this new universe is largely touching on things that the Legends didn’t, and I think it’s the right way to go.

The Bottom Line: While not as strong in action as most other books, this character sketch of Wilhuff Tarkin truly sets the stage for his character. He’s incredibly well developed, and perfectly executed on the page. James Luceno has done it yet again. Pairing John Jackson Miller for the first one and Luceno for this one as the way to start out the new continuity in the novels was a brilliant way to go as each author is a veteran in the Star Wars written world and each has given you a familiar feeling when reading. Kudos to this new team, and I can’t wait to see what’s next.

This book was very good, It gave Tarkins history a bit more flesh. I think the plot was believable and that the other famous names (the emperor and Darth Vader namely) were properly regulated to the background without losing their character. I just hope that a sequel is in order.

The book is very well written. It's easy to picture the Tarkin, Vader, Palpatine, et al that we know and love from the films living the story that Luceno puts on the page. The only downside here is that sometimes that story itself drags a little. Still a very enjoyable read though.

Love this book! If you like the original Star Wars (# IV) then you will want to read this book. It delves into Gand Moff Tarkins up bringing and how he rises to the top of the imperial ranks to command the Death star. If you want to learn more about Tarkin, then this is a must read.

I remember the excitement of watching Star Wars in 1977 when I was still a teen,
and I certainly watched The Empire Strikes Back and Return of The Jedi. But didn't
follow all the latest sequels and prequels, and to be frank some of them tasted
as reheated food left overs.

But I have to be frank, this is the fist book I read of the Star Wars series.
I really enjoyed reading it, and it was interesting to get to know more about one
of the "evil" characters of the franchise. I'm not a Star Wars fanboi and don't
know all the details behind each plot and each characters. For times this book
was sort of boring, other times sort of exciting, but overall was entertaining
and interesting.

Will I watch a movie about Tarkin based on this book? Hardly.

A fantastic exploration in the psychological impact of Tarkin's experiences as a young man into adulthood, plus the author, and editor, grant us a unique journey into the many uses of the word "that".

I've listened to most of Star Wars that has been put on audio, and I think is one of the best. I found the story itself only ok, but this is more than made up for in the very 'Tarkin' experience of the performance, mostly due to the wonderful narration of Euan Morton.

Taking on one of the most intriguing characters in the Star Wars universe, James Luceno does an admirable job fleshing out the persona of Wilhuff Tarkin. Played perfectly by Peter Cushing in 1977, Tarkin has always been an enigma. How did this man become the commander of the Death Star and an equal to, or sometimes seemingly a superior of, Darth Vader himself? Luceno weaves a story filled with action surrounding a joint Tarkin-Vader mission for the Emperor and flashbacks to Tarkin’s childhood and adolescence.

Set five years after the events in Revenge of the Sith, we are treated to a triple threat here: the growth of Tarkin into the man we see in Star Wars: A New Hope, the continued development of Darth Vader as he grows in the Dark Side, and the seeds of the Rebellion that will reach its pinnacle 15 years into the future.

The action opens on the mysterious Sentinel Base where the newly promoted Moff Tarkin is overseeing a project of epic proportion for the Emperor. The base is attacked by remnants of the Separatist Movement from the Clone Wars. While he is able to deflect the ambush, Tarkin is recalled to Coruscant where he faces the Emperor and is tasked to lead a joint mission with Darth Vader to root out the Separatists and eliminate them completely. While on this mission, the Moff’s cruiser, Carrion Spike, is hijacked and after being used by the Separatists to attack Imperial installations it is up to Tarkin and Vader to track the ship down before more damage can be done, all the while unraveling plots and conspiracies over two years in the making.

To say I had high hopes and expectations for thie book would be an understatement As a life long Star Wars fan, I have always been intrigued by Grand Moff Tarkin ever since seeing him on the big screen. What made this ruthless Imperial tick? How did he get to such a prominent position in the Imperial pantheon, especially command of the Death Star? When I saw that James Luceno was taking the reins and fleshing out this story, I was even more excited, and was not let down!

Tarkin reads more like an espionage thriller and psychological case study than a science fiction adventure, as with most other Star Wars Expanded Universe novels. The pacing was deliberate and methodical, giving you a true sense not only of the way in which the main investigation in the story is handled, but also a look at the personality of Tarkin himself. Luceno never lacks on the details, but the story does not get bogged down in them either. By weaving in stories of Tarkin’s childhood and adolescence, as well as the trials he endured to shape him, we are treated to a wonderful character study that slowly reveals more complexity and layers to Wilhuff Tarkin than you would ever imagine existed. Couple that with the asides and glimpses into characters such as Vader and the Emperor while interacting with Tarkin, and the entire triumvirate truly comes alive.

There are some points where the action seems to drag, but, much like Tarkin himself, the story is well metered, calculated, and focused on its desired end. Readers looking for lots of action will be disappointed, but hopefully not for long as they get to know and understand the personality of one of the most calculating and fearless leaders of the Galactic Empire.

This is an incredibly uneven book by one of my favourite Star Wars authors. Basically the main plot is how Vader and Tarkin become BFFs while searching for Tarkin's pimped up spaceship for two. Why does Grand Moff Tarkin have such a small spaceship?? And why do we spend the bulk of the novel searching for it? Also, a good deal of the book reveals swaths of detail about the Empire, what it's composed of, ship and planet information. I guess that's story for some. For me it was wallpaper. And there are the flashbacks to Tarkin's youth of being from kind of a redneck hunting family. This part is interesting when it's not plain weird. Problem is that the only interesting material in the book is told in flashback. It's not the main plot. And it's really hard to care about looking for a two seater spaceship for a couple hundred pages. Hard to follow at that.
James Luceno gave us The Unified Force and Darth Plagueis, two of the best novels from the entire "Legends" era. Tarkin is a bad book. I'm not even sure how Tarkin came to be. Luceno has never written a Star Wars novel near this uninteresting.

The back story provided about both Lord Vader & Tarkin are precious gems for the true fan. I would have enjoyed more character development regarding Vader's exo-skeleton/life support suit. That said, this is a great read and well put together.

I loved it, Im a big star wars fan and getting some new insight about Tarkin was pretty good. He complements the empire and vader quite well. I would love to hear more from him or to see him on the new Rebels series as the book depicts him.

this book is pure genius...evil genius that is. It really showcases just how deep of a character Tarkin really is. I know growing up i was questioned why Vader listened to Tarkin and stopped force choking all those admirals and generals..lol This book gives you great backstory and understanding into their relationship. James Luceno is awesome and i’d pretty much read his grocery list at this point..i cant recommend this book enough..stop reading this and get this book asap!

First off, lets get one thing straight. Tarkin is NOT Plagueis. Tarkin is a disappointing and boring read, that has a non-gripping plot. The characters of Palpatine and Vader are written all wrong. They are too common and approachable, with no menace or mystique about them. Tarkin was essentially raised like Tarzan, and goes against everything I pictured of him. A cold calculating intellect that never touched an ounce of dirt in his life.
The "Rebels" in this novel were a random group of static characters who pop out of nowhere, and have no discernible backstory. They are essentially a bunch of thieves, who commander Tarkin's ship and hit Imperial target after Imperial target in a ridiculously long winded "space bus" route. If messing with the Empire was that easy, the Rebels would have beat them a lot easier. Tarkin and Vader looked liked morons!
Besides being slow and boring, the ending was completely stupid and tried to be "deep", but failed spectacularly. My liking for the character of Wilhuff Tarkin has gone down considerably, and Tarkin was honestly the worst Star Wars book, I've ever read.

I’ve long been a reader of the Star Wars Expanded Universe. In fact, most of my favorite characters and storylines come from the books, not the movies. But Tarkin is one that caught my interest in the movie, and I’ve been waiting a long time for his story.

But TARKIN just wasn’t the book I hoped it would be.

First I should say that James Luceno’s writing style doesn’t always work for me, and this is one of those books where it really didn’t work. I slogged through this book, constantly distracted by descriptions of every single person encountered, down to their hair color, facial features, and attire. Once you take away all the descriptions and random tangents, there’s not a lot of story left. And the story that is there … well, I can’t imagine Tarkin being outfoxed in the way he was, and by a group that didn’t have a strong motive. I’m also not sure I buy his “training” on Eriadu.

TARKIN contains passages from characters other than Tarkin, including Emperor Palpatine and the ship thieves, but … everyone sounds the same when they open their mouths. I just can’t see Darth Vader speaking like this: “Then there was some purpose to turning a blind eye to illegality, and to fostering dishonesty of a particular sort. But times have changed, and it is incumbent on you to change with them (Chapter 7).”

I was hoping for a book about Tarkin, but though TARKIN contains some flashbacks to his youth, the book is mostly about him and Darth Vader taking a trip around the galaxy to find Tarkin’s ship. There are a few examples of Tarkin’s ruthlessness, which I did like, but otherwise … I didn’t believe in Luceno’s version of him. It just didn’t work for me. Hunting animals and living primally doesn’t turn one into a military strategist -- why not show more of Tarkin’s time at the academy? Why not *show* some important events, instead of *telling* me about them? That’s another big gripe I have with the author’s writing: he tells almost everything, instead of showing me what’s going on. And I’m not going into the tons of classes of ships I’d never heard of before.

Ultimately, TARKIN was a disappointing story about such an iconic character. When I finished the book, I thought, “That’s it? Really?” The main plot was, well, weak, and there were unresolved side plots, including the Emperor feeling dark currents in the Force? The ending of the book felt rushed. Instead of spending so much time detailing everything, maybe more attention should have been giving to developing sub plots and connecting everything together.

I think from now on I’ll stay away from Star Wars books written by Luceno, and possibly the new reboot of the EU, since I haven’t liked what’s come out of it so far.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Review (Spoilers!):

Although Tarkin is not as sweeping in scope as the most recent James Luceno Star Wars novel Darth Plagueis, it provides a great deal of context to one of the most interesting characters from Star Wars: A New Hope. Along the way, just as with Darth Plagueis, we find out that the novel Tarkin is not just centered on Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin. Rather, through Wilhuff Tarkin's eyes, we are provided fascinating insight into the characters of Emperor Sheev Palpatine (more on that below), Darth Vader, and the overall state of the galaxy in the five years that have passed since the end of the Clone Wars.

Throughout the book, there are flashbacks to Tarkin as youth being taken on hunting expeditions with his grand-uncle Jova on the Carrion Plateau. These flashbacks are intended to provide context to Tarkin's character traits as an Imperial Officer. We come to understand why Tarkin prefers the use of fear, rather than brute force, as a deterrent to those who oppose the Empire. While somewhat interesting, I feel that these flashbacks slow the book down too much. During each one, I was eager to return to the present narrative and gather more information about the current state of affairs in the galaxy.

As the book opens, Wilhuff Tarkin is stationed at Sentinel Base on Belderone, a desolate moon in a nameless system in a remote region of the Outer Rim. To outsiders, this assignment was far beneath a man who held the rank of Grand Moff. But what outsiders did not know was that Wilhuff Tarkin was safeguarding the creation of a deep-space mobile battle station that would one day shape and guarantee the future of the Empire.

A sneak attack against Sentinel Base spawns an investigation by the Empire and Tarkin is summoned to Coruscant by the Emperor. It is through Tarkin's perspective that we are provided a more in-depth view of Coruscant and how the Empire operates during this period in galactic history. And here is where the book shines the most. Just as he did in the novel Darth Plagueis, author James Luceno masterfully uses the titular character to flesh out details of characters who interact with him. Some of the more interesting details include:

(1) The Emperor no longer makes his office in the Senate building. Rather, he now occupies the former council chamber in the now-abandoned Jedi Temple.

(2) Tarkin is informed by the Emperor's vizier, Mas Amedda, that the Jedi are no longer spoken of. Tarkin was amazed that in the five short years since the eradication of the Jedi, they already seemed like a distant memory.

(3) The Emperor, Darth Sidious, still has in his possession the droid 11-4D that once belonged to his master, Darth Plagueis.

(4) The Jedi Temple was erected over an ancient Sith shrine. This was a closely guarded secret of the Sith. The Jedi had believed that the power inherent in the shrine had been neutralized and successfully capped. "In truth, that power had seeped upward and outward since its entombment, infiltrating the hallways and rooms above, and weakening the Jedi Order much as the Sith Masters themselves had secretly infiltrated the corridors of political power and toppled the Republic." One of the first things that Palpatine did after occupying the Jedi Temple was to excavate the Sith shrine and create a personal lair.

(5) The first name of Emperor Palpatine is Sheev. In an interview with the Full of Sith podcast (Episode LXXXIX), author James Luceno confirms that the name Sheev came directly from George Lucas.

(6) Tarkin is convinced that Darth Vader is actually Anakin Skywalker. In addition, Sidious believes that Tarkin had deduced that Vader is a Sith and that Sidious is Vader's Master.

As part of the investigation into the Sentinel Base attack, the Emperor orders Tarkin and Darth Vader to Murkhana to track down a potential lead. Neither Tarkin nor Vader is pleased with having to work together on this mission. Vader feels that Governor Tarkin's presence is unnecessary and Governor Tarkin feels that he should return to his regular duties on the Sentinel moon. The Emperor knows that it is important that Tarkin and Vader work together, so he denies each one's objection to working with the other and they are forced to carry out the mission as assigned.

While on Murkhana, Tarkin's own highly-customized personal corvette, the Carrion Spike, is stolen by members of the same rebel cell that attacked Sentinel Base. As we learn more about them, we find that each member of the rebel cell has a personal score to settle with the Empire and they use the Carrion Spike to carry out strategic hits against key Imperial targets.

The balance of the book is a cat and mouse game between the rebels with the Carrion Spike on one side and Governor Tarkin / Darth Vader on the other. It is through this circumstance that Tarkin and Vader each comes to appreciate the strengths of the other and work together for the good of the Empire.

Final Verdict

I have always been a fan of Grand Moff Tarkin. I was one of those rare 5-year-olds who kept hoping that Kenner would release a Grand Moff Tarkin action figure to order my Death Squad Commanders and stormtroopers around. Alas, they never did and I was forced to use a Death Squad Commander in the role of Tarkin for my action figure adventures. Needless to say, I am intrigued by this character and Tarkin does not disappoint. The book is full of great callbacks to events from Star Wars: The Clone Wars and it provides our first in-depth, story group approved, look at how the Empire functions in the five years that have passed since Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith.

Highly recommended.

I can't say I hate any Star Wars books because I love the characters so much, which is why I gave this book two stars. In a word... boring. What a waste of two great villains, Tarkin and Vader. This book should have been amazing, but it was dull with an uninteresting plot. The backstory surrounding Tarkin's past also left a lot to be desired.

This book dedicates its entire first chapter to Grand Moff Tarkin designing his distinctive uniform. This conversation with a tailoring droid is the high point of the book.

As a lifelong Star Wars fan, I've read more than a few of the novels. After finding A New Dawn to be a tolerable prequel to Rebels, I gave this a try. And wow, it is not good. This book will do nothing to change your opinion of Grand Moff Tarkin, nor does it contain a plot interesting enough to justify the read. I'm all for delving into the minutia of Star Wars, but this doesn't even do that in a meaningful way.

When I saw this book was coming out I was very excited, this was a character I have always wanted to know more about. I checked out the audio book from my local library and I really enjoyed it, so much so I went out and bought the hardcover. The book was well written and I enjoyed the reader on this audio book. I enjoyed learning the dynamics in the relationships between Tarkin, Darth Vader, and the Emperor. The plot was well thought out and I enjoyed the "murder mystery" style of figuring out the plans of the pre "rebel scum" trying to ruin Tarkin. I was very interested in learning some of the events that lead to the Death Star. Very good book all around. I am looking forward to more of these "CANON" books!

I previously enjoyed Luceno's "Plageus", actually it was one of my favorite star wars books but this was a drag. I purchased the audible version of this book and after the first hour couldn't pay attention to the story, when I could there wasn't much to entice me to start again. I mean the book started with a conversation between Tarken and a droid discussing the style of his new uniform, really? The other well known characters seemed out of character as well. This book was a chore to get through.

"Tarkin" is closer to 3.9 than 3.1. It's a solid read with strong elements. Tarkin's back story, which is weaved throughout the book, isn't quite worth the eventual payoff for all the buildup. The main plot is well conceived but is less interesting when Vader and the Emperor aren't involved. The book's greatest weakness, however, really isn't fair. "Tarkin" is nowhere near as good as Luceno's "Plagueis". It should be noted that "Plagueis" might be the best Star Wars novel (at the very least, it's one of my favorites). Tarkin's story just doesn't measure up in terms of a direct comparison.

This didn't feel like Star Wars. It was more like some convoluted political thriller with spacey trappings and no real protagonist. Lucas tales were never anything like this -- even A New Dawn was much better. The author was too busy doing EU shout-outs to respect the canon. I hope they try harder than this in the future. Rebooting means you can leave old junk behind.

If your favorite parts of the prequel trilogy were the soul-sucking exposition scenes where people just talked to each other while sitting on couches, then Tarkin is the book for you. This book is just chock-full of moffsplaining and sithsplaining. If this hadn't been an audiobook, there is no way on Tatooine that I would've ever finished it.

Recommended to no one.

This, like A New Dawn before it, is nothing but a cash-grab by Disney, retelling stories that have already been told in other works (Death Star, Dark Forces, etc.) and not even living up to, let alone surpassing the originals. It's a terrible shame to see someone like Luceno, who has written several great Star Wars books in the past, be a part of this. If you're looking for a Star Wars novel to read, try something from the EU (now rebranded as "Legends" to make room for Disney's new "canon").

If your favorite parts of the prequel trilogy were the soul-sucking exposition scenes where people just talked to each other while sitting on couches, then Tarkin is the book for you. This book is just chock-full of moffsplaining and sithsplaining. If this hadn't been an audiobook, there is no way on Tatooine that I would've ever finished it.

Recommended to no one.

This, like A New Dawn before it, is nothing but a cash-grab by Disney, retelling stories that have already been told in other works (Death Star, Dark Forces, etc.) and not even living up to, let alone surpassing the originals. It's a terrible shame to see someone like Luceno, who has written several great Star Wars books in the past, be a part of this. If you're looking for a Star Wars novel to read, try something from the EU (now rebranded as "Legends" to make room for Disney's new "canon").