Tarkin - Book Review

Tarkin, written by James Luceno (Darth Plagueis, Catalyst: A Rogue One Story), was published by Del Rey on November 4, 2014. An early entry into the new canon, Tarkin takes place five years after Revenge of the Sith and gives readers greater insights into one of Star Wars‘ most famous villains, Wilhuff Tarkin.

The bulk of the events of Tarkin revolve around the titular character and Darth Vader teaming up to hunt down a band of freedom fighters who have stolen the General’s (not yet a Grand Moff) personal transport, the Carrion Spike. This portion of the timeline is interesting as the Empire is fairly new and the hard lines separating Imperials and Rebels isn’t yet established, allowing for plenty of intrigue and mystery as events transpire. Interspersed throughout the main narrative are glimpses into young Tarkin’s upbringing on the planet Eriadu. These sections offer the most action scenes of the novel as young Wilhuff is guided by an uncle through required trials in the Eriadu wilderness—most specifically in an area called the Carrion Plateau. It’s intriguing to see the culture in which Tarkin was raised and the traumatic events that shaped his adolescence and made him into the ruthless leader he later becomes.

Like the calculating man himself, Luceno’s prose is carefully crafted and evenly paced. Like a well planned and executed military strategy, events unfold meticulously and never without purpose. Stylistically this book fits within other war-based and tactical novels (a la Battlefront: Twilight Company by Alexander Freed) so fans of this type of genre will find plenty to enjoy. In addition, readers are privy to what the early working relationships of Palpatine/Sidious, Vader and Tarkin look like.

Tarkin gives readers more to explore in terms of his and Anakin/Vader’s relationship, one that The Clone Wars fans will surely appreciate. Forced to work together, these two pawns of Sidious learn more about each other, quirks and all—familiar enough quirks that Tarkin has an inkling of who the man behind the mask might really be. By the end of the novel we have a better sense of why these two are who they are by the time Episode IV begins—one at the helm of the Death Star and the other planted at the Emperor’s side.

In the early days of new canon publications, it seems that Disney/Lucasfilm didn’t have as clear of an idea of where and how new stories would be told. The newly established Lucasfilm Story Group (in my opinion) existed to ensure that new publications would fit within the scope of approved content rather than have an overarching creative vision for new storytelling in novels and comics. Over time I think the Story Group was able to more creatively delve into the scope of stories that could be told versus simply being fact checkers. Luceno’s work in Tarkin, while well written and constructed, suffers from some of this early lack of clarity on how new canon publications would exist. Its place in the timeline is unique and it has a cast of characters who have a built in audience but it can read as a sort of one-off solo mission disconnected from other canon material (maybe this is why it was grouped with A New Dawn and 3 short stories in The Rise of the Empire published in 2015). Regardless, Tarkin the novel, much like the man, stands on its own—a distinguished, remorseless and formidable tale of villainy in space.