Nerds That Geek Book Review - 'Star Wars: Red Harvest'

Written by Scott Edwards

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away on the planet of Odacer-Faustin, lessons and trainings on the dark side of the Force go on as usual at the Sith Academy. The final activity of the day is a sparring match between Wim Nickter and top student Rance Lussk. The fight is lavish, but short, and ends the way all of the onlookers had predicted, with Nickter being hauled away to the infirmary and Lussk left to just straighten out his robe. A couple of Nickter’s classmates go to check on their fallen and foolish friend, but Nickter is missing. For all the group knows, he has run away, ashamed and embarrassed in his defeat. But what has really happened to him is far worse than anyone at the academy could have seen coming.

Darth Scabrous, a Sith Lord at the academy is in the process of an experiment and is in need of subjects. Nickter is the next in line to 'volunteer', for with his recent defeat in the yard, he is weak and needs a new form of training that only Scabrous can provide. Unwilling and unaware Nickter becomes much more than even Scabrous could have imagined, and now the Dark Lord just needs one more item to refine his formula, a Murakami Orchid.

Many worlds away, Hestizo Trace, a Jedi Agricultural Corps worker, Zo for short, is working at her station when a blast comes through her wall. A Whiphid bounty hunter is suddenly at her throat, searching for the orchid. The Murakami Orchid is renowned for its Force abilities, but requires a keeper with an equally high midichlorian count to keep it fully alive. After explaining this to the bounty hunter, Zo’s life of being a Jedi botanist is going to take a drastic turn for the worse. Being kidnapped along with the orchid, Zo finds herself being presented to Darth Scabrous and becomes a vital piece to his final formula.

Red Harvest takes you back to the origins of a Sith created Zombie virus, along with explaining how it works, properly. The Sith apprentices battle for survival using their training and basic understanding of the Force. Bounty Hunter Tulkh joins into the battle as well, with his hunting skills being refined from his youth, the undead Sith cannot stand a chance. Zo also stays around for the fighting, and although she is not strong as the others, she has her own special way to help dispatch the menace. All off them square off against Darth Scabrous, who has perfected the immortality potion of the ancients, with one missing factor that adds an unfortunate side effect, the resurrection of the dead.  

Taking a trip, way, way, way back into time, a time before the Republic was corrupt and before the Rebels and the Empire were at each other’s throats, Red Harvest takes you to a more civilized time of just Jedi, Sith and Bounty Hunters, since the timing of the novel is set 3,650 years before A New Hope. As in all of the zombie books you read, you have your group band together to survive, but when you add Lightsabers and the Force to that, you end up with a fun little ride. Although you do have the Sith facing off against the Jedi, you may be surprised by who you end up pulling for to survive. Happy reading and May the Force be with you.

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