When The Desert Wind Turns: The Stormtrooper's Tale, by Doug Beason
Before I get into my review, let me state up front - I really liked this story. That was a big relief to me as a fan because, as I've mentioned before, the central character is someone from one of my very favorite scenes when I first sat in the theater in 1977.
Not sure why. Something about the seriousness, the desolation, the voice, the chain of events his very short scene causes - just something about it struck me as a kid.
In fact (unrelated to this review), on my Google Earth install, I have some filming locations set as places (M*A*S*H, Star Wars, Dances With Wolves, etc). One of them is the shooting location for the Dune Sea. The name I gave the marker? - "Look sir, droids". But I digress.
This story is a longer one. It begins somewhere other than Tatooine and is unrelated to the movie for a while. The story starts when he's a recruit and we get a look at boot camp for the Imperial Army. He eventually ends up as a stormtrooper assigned to an outer rim post, where he makes that now famous discovery.
The character is well developed and goes through an interesting arc through the course of the story. You get a good look at how different these guys all are (the stormtroopers) - their different ideals, backgrounds, ambitions, etc.
As with the others I liked the most so far, this one has little to do with the movie until much later in the story. Other than the obvious, it doesn't cross deep into or change what we know about Star Wars77. It's just the story of one of the stormtroopers.
Also, a mea culpa if I may. I've known for a long time that there were back stories to just about every character in the trilogy. I've been somewhat critical of that sort of exposition because it seemed unnecessary. What I didn't know - and didn't bother to find out - was that some of that back story came from published novels.
I just assumed it was some silliness belched out on the "bio" pages of the Lucas Franchise machine. Which to me, has always felt weirdly uncomfortable, a sort of role-playing extension that is so fleshed-out that it borders on disturbing. Particularly for adults.
I was wrong about the back stories, or at least some of the ones I've read so far. These stories are from some very talented writers and some of them would make interesting novels on their own. Once again, this board grows my Star Wars universe.