![]() ![]() Omega Squad – Niner, Darman, Fi and Atin –barely feature, except for Fi, and his constant cheerfulness seems to be a cover for sadness, but, apart from not having a girlfriend, I have no idea what that sadness is really about. The downside is, Traviss brings whatever plot there is, to a screeching halt each time she talks about the characters. There is character-building… and I use that term loosely. Yet, later, when one of the clones is about to get intimate with a woman and she wonders how long it takes the squad to finish their meal, he answers, “ ‘Long enough, I think.’” To which, I had to ask, how would he know? When Ordo reacts like a nervous little boy when a waitress smiles at him, Skirata thinks on “ how incomplete a teacher he had been of social skills.” It felt odd to have so much focus on getting the clones girlfriends. Basically, the plot reads like a commando version of ‘ Days of Our Lives’. There is no tension, no sense of danger, no worry about the fate of the characters I’d come to care about in the first book. The story comes across as a spy-thriller wannabe, one that does not make the grade. Speaking of civilians, where are they? Even when the squads are on stakeouts, the clones barely cross paths with any civilians. This is a densely populated place but there seems to be no thought given to using deadly force in the presence of so many civilians. There isn’t even the most basic of descriptions to anchor any of the locations. ![]() We’re on Coruscant, but we could have been on any planet, in any city. The worldbuilding I enjoyed in the first book is non-existent here. The antagonists, such as they are, are a bunch of forgettable characters I can’t remember any of their names or what their ultimate motive was. If any reason was given, I’ve forgotten what it was. Strangely, this mission isn’t led by a Jedi general or even anyone from the Coruscant Security Force Anti-Terrorism Unit.Ĭommand is given to a civilian, Kal Skirata. Terrorists linked to the Separatists are carrying out bombings on Coruscant and it’s down to the clones to identify and destroy them. Strangely, the further along I went, the more I felt I was reading a YA book. I was expecting an action book instead, I got a soap opera. My review of this book won’t be as in-depth as the first one only because nothing much happens. They’re fiercely loyal to him and he views them as his sons. They’re referred to as ‘null’ because the Kaminoans viewed them as defective and were going to terminate them but allowed Skirata to take them on, care for them and train them. The Null ARCs – who total 6 although here we only meet 2 of them, Ordo and Mereel – were the first ones trained by Skirata. Skirata was mentioned a few times in ‘ Hard Contact’ and had trained Niner, Darman and Fi. We’re also introduced to a couple of Mandalorians, who had been picked by Jango Fett to train some of the clones, Kal Skirata and Walon Vau. Omega Squad returns, as do Etain and the other Jedi Padawan who’d been introduced at the start of ‘ Hard Contact’, Bardan Jusik both have passed the trials and are now Jedi Knights and generals in the war. The story is set about a year after ‘ Hard Contact’. This book is about 100 pages longer than ‘ Hard Contact’, a touch under 400 pages with a much bigger cast of characters – 21 are listed at the start with 14 who could be classed as ‘main characters’ – 8 clone commandos, 2 Mandalorians, 2 Null ARCs and 2 Jedi!ĭespite the length and the expanded cast, I went into this with high hopes, especially after Gordon pointed out that the story includes Delta Squad, which features in the Republic Commando game. And while success may not bring victory in the Clone Wars, failure means certain defeat.’ Not even the leadership of Jedi generals, along with the assistance of Delta Squad and a certain notorious ARC trooper, can even the odds against the Republic Commandos. To identify and destroy a Separatist spy and terror network in a city full of civilians will require special talents and skills. But when Omega Squad is rushed to Coruscant, the war’s most dangerous new hotspot, the commandos discover they’re not the only ones penetrating the heart of the enemy.Ī surge in Separatist attacks has been traced to a network of Sep terror cells in the Republic’s capital, masterminded by a mole in Command Headquarters. ‘ For Omega Squad, deployed deep behind enemy lines, it’s the same old special ops grind: sabotage, espionage and assassination. This is the second in the ‘ Republic Commando’ series. ![]()
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