This might be the Star Wars book I’ve reread the most throughout the years.
It helped that it was one that I owned (traded for it actually), so I didn’t need to check it out from the library. I think I reread it every couple of months or so.
Why?
Why do we reread stories? (I actually wrote down some thoughts about that question over on another blog post. Check it out here.)
I think for me, the answer to why I reread Order 66 so often was because I thought it was the last time I’d get to read about the characters in these books. I thought this was the fourth and final book in the Republic Commando series. I didn’t want it to be over. I didn’t want it to end.
But if I kept rereading this final book, then I wouldn’t have to say goodbye to the characters I had come to love over the past three novels. Not really. I could keep reading in a never-ending cycle—even if this was where their story ended.
Instead, imagine my surprise and joy when I found out— years later—that the story actually concluded (sort of) with the true final book in the series, 501st: An Imperial Commando Novel. (An appreciation post for that book will be coming shortly.)
If you’re wondering why it took me so long to figure that out… Well, this was before book releases by my favorite authors were really on my radar, and I didn’t receive helpful email notifications about pre-orders and the like from publishing houses. I think I came across the book online by accident and could barely believe what I was seeing.
Anyway, Ms. Traviss knocked it out of the park with Order 66, as she does with all of her books. She seamlessly weaves multiple characters and viewpoints together and does so in a way that there’s something to be enjoyed in each and every one. She writes people, in all of their messiness, with all of their flaws, but also with all of their moments of love and kindness and humanity.
And you know what? A funny thing happens when you write characters, not caricatures: It makes it all the more difficult for readers to say goodbye.
At least, it did for this reader. The first time I read it—and this time too.
Until I reread Order 66 again… Thank you, Ms. Traviss. Thank you.
Until next time,
Al
