Star Wars: Battle Surgeons, part one of the Medstar Duology was written by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry. This Expanded Universe tale takes place during the Clone Wars in the Rise of the Empire era, 21 BBY (21 years before the battle of Yavin)
SUMMARY & THOUGHTS
Jedi Padawan Barris Offee was sent to the planet Drongar to assist the Clone medic team and use her force ability as a healer. Her other task is to to keep an eye on Bota harvesting. Bota is a plant with several medicinal benefits and is in high demand across the galaxy… It’s value is high.
Admiral Bleyd is not happy to be on Drongar, in charge of the Medstar medical frigate. He’s upset, so naturally, he comes up with a get rich scheme and aligns himself with Black Sun.
This story focuses on a few characters going about their daily tasks. Life is hard during war. We tend to think only of the warriors during the Clone Wars, this novel sheds light on the other heroes… the surgeons.
I’d say the authors did a fine job of expressing the chaos of war, especially within the medical units. Although the clones are disposable, the medics do what they can to prolong and heal the injured.
This book starts off pretty gross with some surgical gore. The clones have a tough, dangerous job fighting on the front lines of a galactic war. Spare body parts/organs are grown from cells, so when a clone is in need of say, a spare lung, the surgical team may have one in a cooling tank.
The cast of characters is great, I enjoyed the bits with the villain of the story, Bleyd (silly name). He gets cocky, which leads to stupid decisions. I also enjoyed Barris Offee’s role in the story. Some in the galaxy really have a distaste for the Jedi and the force.
The little link to some other EU tales with the arrive of I-5, Lorn Pavan’s droid, Lorn was from the EU book I really enjoyed, Maul Shadow Hunter, which was also written by Michael Reeves. There were few sexual things that are unnecessary, I’m guessing that’s Steve Perry’s doing. A lady is trying to seduce Jos, but he want’s to reserve himself.
While I thought the story was decent, it is much slower than I’d prefer. I’m not the biggest fan of the Clone Wars era (which I’ve said multiple times on the channel). Sometimes slower stories that focus on characters is much more enjoyable than constant – flashy action.