Star Wars: Red Harvest

By: Joe Schreiber

Narrated by: John Glover

Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

The era of the Old Republic is a dark and dangerous time, as Jedi Knights valiantly battle the Sith Lords and their ruthless armies. But the Sith have disturbing plans—and none more so than the fulfillment of Darth Scabrous’s fanatical dream, which is about to become nightmarish reality.

Unlike those other Jedi sidelined to the Agricultural Corps—young Jedi whose abilities have not proved up to snuff—Hestizo Trace possesses one extraordinary Force talent: a gift with plants. Suddenly her quiet existence among greenhouse and garden specimens is violently destroyed by the arrival of an emissary from Darth Scabrous. For the rare black orchid that she has nurtured and bonded with is the final ingredient in an ancient Sith formula that promises to grant Darth Scabrous his greatest desire.

But at the heart of the formula is a never-before-seen virus that’s worse than fatal—it doesn’t just kill, it transforms. Now the rotting, ravenous dead are rising, driven by a bloodthirsty hunger for all things living—and commanded by a Sith Master with an insatiable lust for power and the ultimate prize: immortality . . . no matter the cost.

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©2010 Joe Schreiber (P)2010 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Brilliant . . . This book combines two of my favorite things on earth: the Star Wars universe and the undead.” (Tommy Wirkola, director of Dead Snow)

Absolutely amazing

one of the best star wars books I've listened to. I absolutely love the horror twist in the star wars universe.

Star Wars Zombie

I went in thinking it would be a zombie Star Wars book and well.... I got a Star Wars zombie book. It was fun and helped pass the time but in no way was there any great exploration into the Sith or Jedi conflicts. All the characters were one dimensional but, again, that wasn’t what I was looking for. I recommend if you want a Star Wars and zombie fix ;)

Decent Prequel

Adds some nice background for the Death Troopers, but it's relatively short length and lack of memorable characters make me wish there was more substance.

More zombies

First of all, John Glover does an EXCELLENT job as narrator. He has a strong voice that emotes well without getting ostentatious or repetitive. I particularly enjoyed the neti (a tree-like creature), a fringe character whose speech changed dramatically after a critical turning point in the story.

The problem is that the whole zombie apocalypse thing has just about run its course, and this story is not materially different from Schreiber's previous Star Wars novel, Death Troopers. The characters aren't that engaging and seem wooden, with little bits of background thrown in here and there but not early or deep enough in the story to make the reader/listener care about what happens to them. That one character's introduction is a direct lift off a seminal line from the film "Taken" [okay, Liam Neeson played a Jedi, I get the joke] didn't help, either.

Overall a decent, if redundant, horror slice well played by a veteran audiobook performer, but nothing to write home about.

Great Story

Loved the book but the performance was a little odd. I had a good time listening to it and you can tell that Glover put in a ton of effort to make this audiobook a great experience. There’s a background noise made for the creatures that’s just kind of silly and that’s enough to drop my rating for the performance.

Not what was expected

Im a big fan of the Star Wars story. I only recently started investing in the novels. This was not what i expected. It seemed like a gimmick in terms of the overall plot. I will listen to this story again and it may turn out it grows on me. Until then...

Terrible audiobook

Worst book narrator ever listen to. I do not recommend this book just skip this book and go to the next one

Midnight in the House of the Dead

Would you listen to Star Wars: Red Harvest again? Why?

Heck yeah! And I already have. Largely due to the fact that John Glover does such a brilliantly fantastic job of bringing Joe Schreiber's gruesome grand guignol tale of dark towers & dark intent (in a really elite prep school) to life. Good stuff!.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Star Wars: Red Harvest?

The sad, terrible and disguting fate of what turned out to be my favorite of the Sith students (as much as one can be). The one that lasted the longest. That almost got away. Believe me, you'll know who I'm talking about when you get there. Though I also loved the moments of comradery between a bounty hunter and an unrestrained droid. You'll know when you get to that too.

Which character – as performed by John Glover – was your favorite?

Oh, the HK droid, by far. It's such a great performance. I'm already a fan of that kind of droid in other media. And Mr. Glover did this one absolute justice. Brilliant.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Horror Beyond Imagination

Any additional comments?

It's short. It's quick. It's bloody. It's gruesome. It's got a great Sith Lord. It's got a few lightsabers. And it's got a zombie panic that rapidly goes out of control once it hits the ground running (As they often do). It's nothin' deep. Not gonna kid. But I have to say, it was a fun ride (Especially being that I listened to most of it during the snowy periods we had about a month ago. It was a nice touch.). Trust me: buy the ticket, ride the (scary) ride.

bizarre

Zombie story meets Star Wars? I really don't know how to rate this story - it is so far outside the realm of "normal" star wars stories. the actual descriptive writing and narrative performance were both very good, but I spent the whole book questioning if I had selected a horror novel instead of a Star Wars novel...

an excellent Halloween story

if you love zombies and a huge star wars fan you'll absolutely love this book I'm thinking about rereading it it was so good! the author of this book wrote death troopers as well and that one was horrifying. I get chills thinking of this story. I'll be playing battlefront 2 or any star wars game and be reminded of this legends book. it is one scary story! this was a very unique story and the audiobook was amazing I love how the opening credits die off and eerie sounds are heard afterwards really set the spooky feel to this I might read this again in october it was a really good story I wish there were more horror stories In the star wars universe