Just finished the book. Took about 3 hours...maybe less. It's only 234 pages. The remaining 40 are a long excerpt from the first "Fate of the Jedi" book.
Honestly, I didn't care for it. It was definitely very graphic and gory, but the plot was paper-thin. The reason for the zombies was the typical
bioweapon experiment gone awry
, but the mechanics of it are only revealed in a brief exchange at the end and they don't really make coherent sense. It does remind me of the way "Satan" functioned in John Carpenter's
Prince of Darkness.
And towards the end, the zombies started "jumping the shark" by
actively problem solving by using X-Wing blaster cannons to attack their victims, firing accurately with blaster rifles, and coordinating efforts to escape the Destroyer with the remaining viral stockpile
Adding Han and Chewie into the mix was a
horrendous decision! Their actions, words, and dialogue were completely out of character. They could've easily been two more generic characters.
In the end,
Death Troopers was an interesting experiment and certainly took
Star Wars into a dark, dark realm, but the story was pedestrian and forgettable.
Spoiler:
