Yeah, I read another Star Wars book. A friend of mine really liked this series, and no one else ever gave them a chance, so I felt pity on him and said I've give 'em a look. But turns out, they're not bad.

This is the second in the "Republic Commando" series, which started off as a standard video-game tie-in novel, but here author Karen Traviss goes a little deeper and actually explores some characters and tells a good story beyond just "stuff is happening just like the video game and oh my god its in the star wars universe!!!"

The plot is simple: a bunch of Special Ops forces doing covert counter-terrorism operations on a giant planet-sized urban metropolis. The main characters are all clones, and my main complaint of the last book is that they all had identical personalities. But in Triple Zero, Traviss begins to explore how their unique experiences have shaped them in different ways. Each clone begins to show unique personality traits and become unique characters in their own right. They work as a type of family, with their head trainer (who is not a clone) acting as a surrogate father figure who teaches them the way of the Mandalorians.

The Mandolorian culture is an interesting one. It's a bit like a rip-off of Star Trek's Klingons at times, but still interesting nonetheless. A proud warrior race with a strong sense of family. The problem is, this contradicts how the movie portrays them, which is as heartless mercenaries who are only in it for the cash.

And that's the main problem with this book, is that it can only do something interesting when it contradicts or subverts what the movies have established. The themes of the story are hampered by the rigid constructs of a very poorly thought out film franchise. This novel would be much stronger if it was told in it's own universe and not tied to the ridiculous welter of contradiction that is the Star Wars universe.

But the book fights hard to present some interesting ideas, and mostly succeeds. The characters are interesting, they develop and change over the course of the story, and a few interesting ideas are brought up. Themes of individuality in a sea of commonality, the nature of morality, the strength of family ties created intentionally through action as opposed to bloodlines, what makes an effective mentor/teacher (i.e. is it better to be feared or loved?) are the main themes brought up, and there are a few more on the side. None of these are discussed in incredible depth, or say anything too abstruse, but it's interesting. It's not a "thinking mans" story by any means, but hey, atleast there are some themes and ideas that are developed, which is more than you can say for most Star Wars tie in material, including the prequel films.

The only things that really bothered me this time around were the [soiler alert] romance plot and the pregnancy plot. This is due in part to the fact that I just plain don't like romance and pregnancy stories. Even when they're done well, I just don't have any taste for them, and here, they're not even done very well. The romance and pregnancy felt incredibly forced and unrealistic (just like the films, I guess). The way the woman in question acts is not only out of character, but so unlike any real woman I've ever encountered, that I would normally chalk this up to the usual male sex fantasy that so often rears it's head in sci-fi stories, except this is written by a woman, so... yeah.

Anyway, this was a solid, entertaining read. If you enjoy covert-ops action stories and the sci-fi setting, you'll enjoy this. It's a huge step up from the first book in the series, and while it's nothing to write home about, it's good solid entertainment with some solid thematic development on the side.