It's back....Starwars.com just can't help itself from giving away Joe Schreiber's new novel for free. While this does certainly create a buzz for the book, it also is going to make for a rather curious reading experience when the full novel arises. Once you have already read the early chapters, do you just start where the free previews left off or do you actually start from the beginning. Even if I have read the preview chapters, I usually re-read them in the context of the full novel, however I have noticed that its sometimes laborious and I am itching to skip through the stuff I have already read to dig into the brand new material.
I will say, that so far I am really enjoying Mr. Schreiber's writing, the descriptions, characterizations, and action have all been superb.
In the latest excerpt we are given Chapter 5: Pain Pipe. (Pages 31-35)
Chapter Dramatis Personae:
Mnah Ra'at, Sith Academy Student
Xat Hracken, Sith Combat Master
Review:
Chapter Excerpt #1:
Hracken nodded to himself. He’d expected as much. From the moment
he’d arrived here, Lussk had set the pace for the academy’s most
driven pupils, all of whom wanted to fight, train, and study as intensely
as he did. What none of them seemed to understand was that there
could only be one Lussk, and those who challenged him found themselves
sharing the fate of Nickter, among others.
Still, Master Hracken had to admit that he found Ra’at’s ambition
intriguing. Ra’at was easily the smallest in his class, wispy- haired and
fine- featured, and two years of training hadn’t added more than a few
ounces of muscle to his spindly frame. But he had deep steel in him, a
kind of gritty, semi- psychotic rage, and a will to power that drove him
to do whatever was necessary to get ahead. He also had some very peculiar
ideas. It was Ra’at, after all, who had started the rumors that
Darth Scabrous himself was abducting students and taking them up to
the tower in an effort to find one powerful enough to succeed him.
He’d argued the case so successfully that some of the students—and
even a few of the Masters—wondered if he might be right.
The "pain pipe" which gives the chapter its name is the Sith combat simulator. In my head I am picturing an evil version of ABC's Wipeout. But not only does or wee lil'Sith Ra'at do well in the simulator, he kicks its but and impresses his teacher. We will see more interacting between these two and others in the full novel I am sure.
On his way leaving his training session, Ra'at also gives us a look into his personality, and while they are both Sith students Wim Nickter is a much more sympathetic character. Ra'at seems to be very stereotypically Sith in his desires.
Chapter Excerpt #2:
Ra’at felt the requisite twinge of jealousy. The tracks in the snowLets face it, sometimes the Sith are just plain more fun to read about then the Jedi. Joe Schreibers' Sith appear to be some real bad boys. I can't wait for more....
meant that Lord Scabrous had brought visitors here, very recently. The
Sith Lord had invited them into his sanctum, and they had stepped inside.
Ra’at, who had never been inside the tower and could only imagine
its secrets, wondered who the visitors had been. Lussk? Nickter?
One of the Masters?
Slipping off his glove, Ra’at placed one bare hand directly on the
closed hatchway, imagining for a moment that he could feel the power
pulsating out from inside, power that he would do anything to possess.
Someday, he thought, I’ll go through there myself.
Until then, he would keep practicing.
Read Chapter Previews 1-5 below and get hooked on some Sith Zombies...
Download Red Harvest Chapter 1: Here
Download Red Harvest Chapter 2: Here
Download Red Harvest Chapter 3: Here
Download Red Harvest Chapter 4: Here
Download Red Harvest Chapter 5: Here
Pre-Order Red Harvest from Amazon.com: Here
Follow Joe Schreiber: Twitter @joeschreiber1 and his blog, http://www.scaryparent.blogspot.com/
