Red Harvest Review

ALL TIMELINES

PREQUEL ERA

BEFORE STAR WARS
-5000 YEARS
TALES OF THE JEDI
1. GOLDEN AGE OF THE SITH
2. FALL OF THE SITH EMPIRE
LOST TRIBE OF THE SITH
1. PRECIPICE
2. SKYBORN
3. PARAGON
4. SAVIOR

-4000 YEARS
TALES OF THE JEDI
3. KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC
LOST TRIBE OF THE SITH
5. PURGATORY
6. SENTINEL

-3998 YEARS
TALES OF THE JEDI
4. FREEDON NADD UPRISING
5. DARK LORDS OF THE SITH
6. THE SITH WAR

-3986 YEARS
TALES OF THE JEDI
7. REDEMPTION

-3840 YEARS
THE OLD REPUBLIC
1. REVAN

-3520 YEARS
KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC
2. DECEIVED
3. FATAL ALLIANCE
4. ANNIHILATION
PLAGUE
RED HARVEST

-3000 YEARS
LOST TRIBE OF THE SITH
7. PANTHEON
8. SECRETS

-1032 YEARS
KERRA HOLT
1. KNIGHT ERRANT

-1000 YEARS
DARTH BANE
1. PATH OF DESTRUCTION
JEDI VS. SITH
2. RULE OF TWO
3. DYNASTY OF EVIL

-67 YEARS
EARLY REPUBLIC
VOW OF JUSTICE

-44 YEARS
JEDI APPRENTICE
1. THE RISING FORCE
2. THE DARK RIVAL
3. THE HIDDEN PAST
4. MARK OF THE CROWN
5. DEFENDERS OF THE DEAD
6. THE UNCERTAIN PATH
7. THE CAPTIVE TEMPLE
8. THE DAY OF RECKONING

-43 YEARS
JEDI APPRENTICE
9. THE FIGHT FOR TRUTH
10. THE SHATTERED PEACE
11. THE DEADLY HUNTER
12. THE EVIL EXPERIMENT
13. DANGEROUS RESCUE

-42 YEARS
JEDI APPRENTICE
SE1 DECEPTIONS
14. THE TIES THAT BIND
15. THE DEATH OF HOPE
16. CALL TO VENGEANCE
17. THE ONLY WITNESS
18. THE THREAT WITHIN
SE2 THE FOLLOWERS

-34 YEARS
JEDI COUNCIL
ACTS OF WAR

-33 YEARS
EARLY REPUBLIC
PRELUDE TO REBELLION
DARTH MAUL
SABOTEUR
PRE-EPISODE I NOVEL
CLOAK OF DECEPTION
DARTH MAUL
COMICS
SHADOW HUNTER

-32 YEARS
EPISODE I
THE PHANTOM MENACE
EARLY REPUBLIC
OUTLANDER
EMISSARIES TO MALASTARE
JANGO FETT
OPEN SEASONS

-31 YEARS
EARLY REPUBLIC
TWILIGHT
INFINITY'S END
BOUNTY HUNTERS
AURRA SING

-30 YEARS
EARLY REPUBLIC
STARCRASH
HUNT FOR AURRA SING
DARKNESS
STARK HYPERSPACE WAR
THE DEVARONIAN VERSION

-29 YEARS
EPISODE I BRIDGE
ROGUE PLANET

-28 YEARS
EARLY REPUBLIC
RITE OF PASSAGE
JEDI QUEST
0. THE PATH TO TRUTH

-27 YEARS
PREQUEL-ERA NOVEL
OUTBOUND FLIGHT
JEDI QUEST
1. WAY OF THE APPRENTICE
2. TRAIL OF THE JEDI
3. THE DANGEROUS GAMES
BOUNTY HUNTERS
1. JANGO FETT
2. ZAM WESELL

-26 YEARS
JEDI QUEST
4. MASTER OF DISGUISE

-25 YEARS
JEDI QUEST
5. SCHOOL OF FEAR
6. THE SHADOW TRAP

-24 YEARS
JEDI QUEST
7. THE MOMENT OF TRUTH
8. CHANGING OF THE GUARD
EARLY REPUBLIC
HONOR AND DUTY

-23 YEARS
JEDI QUEST
9. THE FALSE PEACE
10. THE FINAL SHOWDOWN
EPISODE I BRIDGE
THE APPROACHING STORM

-22 YEARS
EPISODE II
ATTACK OF THE CLONES
REPUBLIC COMMANDO
1. HARD CONTACT
BOBA FETT
1. THE FIGHT TO SURVIVE
2. CROSSFIRE
3. MAZE OF DECEPTION
REPUBLIC
1. THE DEFENSE OF KAMINO
BOBA FETT
4. HUNTED
REPUBLIC
2. VICTORIES AND SACRIFICES

-21 YEARS
CLONE WARS
SHORT STORY COLLECTION
LEGACY OF THE JEDI
1. SHATTERPOINT
2. THE CESTUS DECEPTION
THE HIVE
REPUBLIC COMMANDO
2. TRIPLE ZERO
REPUBLIC
3. LAST STAND ON JABIIM
4. LIGHT AND DARK
5. THE BEST BLADES

-20 YEARS
THE CLONE WARS
1. THE CLONE WARS
2. WILD SPACE
3. NO PRISONERS
REPUBLIC COMMANDO
3. TRUE COLORS
CLONE WARS
SECRETS OF THE JEDI
MEDSTAR
1. BATTLE SURGEONS
2. JEDI HEALER
CLONE WARS
3. JEDI TRIAL
REPUBLIC
6. ON THE FIELDS OF BATTLE
CLONE WARS
4. DARK RENDEZVOUS
REPUBLIC
7. WHEN THEY WERE BROTHERS
8. THE LAST SIEGE, THE FINAL TRUTH
BOBA FETT
5. A NEW THREAT
6. PURSUIT
EPISODE III BRIDGES
GENERAL GRIEVOUS
LABYRINTH OF EVIL

-19 YEARS
EPISODE III
REVENGE OF THE SITH
REPUBLIC COMMANDO
4. ORDER 66
DARK LORD
THE RISE OF DARTH VADER
REPUBLIC
9. ENDGAME
IMPERIAL COMMANDO
501ST
THE LAST OF THE JEDI
1. THE DESPERATE MISSION
2. DARK WARNING
3. UNDERWORLD
4. DEATH ON NABOO
5. A TANGLED WEB
6. RETURN OF THE DARK SIDE
7. SECRET WEAPON
8. AGAINST THE EMPIRE
9. MASTER OF DECEPTION
10. RECKONING

ALL TIMELINES


		RED HARVEST A novel by Joe Schreiber (2010, Del Rey) 3650 years before Star Wars: A New Hope A Sith master finds a serum that could bring him eternal life, but turns other people into zombies in the process.

		Read November 11th to 20th, 2015, in hardcover
		While this is an origin story for this zombie plague, it does nothing to enlighten the reader to the virus. The story is really just a showcase on different ways people can die and then be reborn as a zombie, and as such lacked an element of real storytelling. Spoiler review: When I read Death Troopers, I wondered who had discovered the powerful virus and how they thought they would be able to control it. It was obvious that the people involved didn’t know what they were dealing with. Here, in a time thousands of years prior to those events, we find a few answers. Unfortunately, we don’t get all that many, and the essentials bring up many more questions. It seems obvious that the Emperor found reference to Darth Scabrous’ experiments, but where could he possibly get an orchid, which can only live with a Force-user as a guide? Like all Sith, apparently, Scabrous wants to live forever, and he found writings from an even more ancient source telling him how to go about it. I loved the fact that he didn’t care about what was going on around him, how many people became infected – he ignored them all, just keeping the infection at bay until he could get his hands on the Jedi. I do find it inconsistent that he could actually command the zombies; to them, he would only be another living being, as he was when the first student infected him. They didn’t seem to take leaders, though they could coordinate for their mutual benefit. The setting is a Sith academy, where students are the usual mix of ruthless, backstabbing friends and enemies that typically encompass the Sith. One who is critically injured is brought to Scabrous’ lab for nasty experiments, which only culminate when the orchid arrives. Zo is a Jedi who never underwent the Trials, and is not really combat-trained. I’ve always wondered about the Agricultural Corps (for young trainees who didn’t get chosen as Padawans by the time they were 13, and first introduced in The Rising Force with Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon). But here we get a small example, as Zo treats special plants, especially a Force-sensitive and semi-sentient orchid. Apparently the orchids need Jedi in order to grow, and a Jedi like Zo can bond with the orchid. I’m not sure what the purpose of this is, except that it suits the story. Zo is kidnapped by a bounty hunter named Tulkh, and brought to Scabrous. Scbarous throws the orchid into the mixture being injected into one of the students, who dies and comes back to life in the form of a zombie like in Death Troopers. In this book, the resurrection happens a lot faster than in the previous one. From here on, the story is just a bunch of barely-related tales that describe various ways the students could did from wounds (even to the point of being bitten by an infected Tauntaun!). Many of the ways the Sith students die are either funny, disgusting, or just plain out of the ordinary. Zo forms a bond with her former captor, Tulkh, and they race from zombie to zombie, barely managing to keep them at bay. Some of the Sith students also survive for a while, until they all finally succumb to attacks, in various fashions. Many of them are simply scratched by the zombies, and the infection takes a while longer to propagate. Meanwhile, Zo's brother senses that she is in danger, and makes his way to the planet. He manages to survive until Zo enters the library, where she is swarmed and captured, the zombies somehow knowing that they must keep her alive for Scabrous. Zo's brother frees her and in the process is turned into a zombie himself, though he somehow manages to keep his sibling nature, and doesn't attack her, going after Scabrous instead. I was wondering how the virus would affect non-human species. We already saw infected Wookies in Death Troopers, but after the infected Tauntauns, I didn't have to wonder too much longer. The librarian is a gigantic tree-creature, a Neti, and once Scabrous starts munching on his bark, he, too, becomes infected, though is a slightly different way. Somehow it seems more wise, even though it is still zombie, and trying to capture Zo and her brother. Eventually Tulkh and Zo escape, though once more, as in Death Troopers, an infected person stows away on their ship. Star student Lussk waits for them. He actually welcomed the infection, but it's stupidly explained that Zo somehow knew his name, only for the reader to draw the connection. I'm sure there was a better way to do that. Tulkh was scratched during one of the fights, and so became infected, but retained enough of his self that he strapped himself away so that he couldn't hurt Zo. When Lussk attacks, she opens the cargo bay doors, ejecting them both into space. I was hoping this book wouldn't be a retread of Death Troopers, but I don't really like what we got instead. It was a horror story, but there wasn't much of anything else to it. Somehow, I expected more.