Red Harvest

Star Wars Legends: Novels

by Joe Schreiber

The era of the Old Republic is a dark and dangerous time, as Jedi Knights valiantly battle the Sith Lords and their ruthless armies. But the Sith have disturbing plans—and none more so than the fulfillment of Darth Scabrous’s fanatical dream, which is about to become nightmarish reality.Unlike those other Jedi sidelined to the Agricultural Corps—young Jedi whose abilities have not proved up to snuff—Hestizo Trace possesses one extraordinary Force a gift with plants. Suddenly her quiet existence among greenhouse and garden specimens is violently destroyed by the arrival of an emissary from Darth Scabrous. For the rare black orchid that she has nurtured and bonded with is the final ingredient in an ancient Sith formula that promises to grant Darth Scabrous his greatest desire.But at the heart of the formula is a never-before-seen virus that’s worse than fatal—it doesn’t just kill, it transforms. Now the rotting, ravenous dead are rising, driven by a bloodthirsty hunger for all things living—and commanded by a Sith Master with an insatiable lust for power and the ultimate immortality . . . no matter the cost.Features a bonus section following the novel that includes a primer on the Star Wars expanded universe, and over half a dozen excerpts from some of the most popular Star Wars books of the last thirty years!

Genres: Star Wars, Science Fiction, Horror, Fiction, Zombies, Fantasy, Audiobook

322 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 28, 2010

About the author

Joe Schreiber was born in Michigan but spent his formative years in Alaska, Wyoming and northern California. Until recently, he has never lived in the same address for longer than a year. Before settling in Hershey he lived in New York, Boston, Martha’s Vineyard, Chicago, Los Angeles, Portland (OR), and Philadelphia. Becoming a parent forced him to consider a career with more reliable income, and he got a job as an MRI tech at Hershey Medical Center. Joe is married and has two children. He is the author of Chasing The Dead, Eat The Dark, and his newest tale of terror; No Doors, No Windows, which went on sale the same day as STAR WARS: DEATH TROOPERS. You can find him on the web at his blog ScaryParent.Blogspot.Com and on Suvudu.Com, where he is an occasional horror columnist.

Reviews

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sure it’s Star Wars . . . Star Wars doused in zombie-horror cheesiness.

Purists will probably hate it.

Definitely not Canon.

If you are a Star Wars fan and don’t mind a completely ridiculous combination of the zombie apocalypse and your favorite galaxy far, far away, you will find an amusing bit of escapism here that you might enjoy. Grab your bucket of popcorn, suspend your concept of “Star Wars reality”, and the sit back for a wild ride!

However, if you would in any way be annoyed or offended by an author messing with your sacred passion for the force, you probably should steer clear. I cannot imagine you would be anything but extremely annoyed and disappointed.

I read this when I did because I am going through all the Canon and Non-Canon books in what is supposed to be chronological order. But if this one’s listed location - between The Old Republic: Deceived and The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance – could be deciphered from clues in the books, a much more dedicated Star Wars fan than me spent some serious time figuring that one out. I am pretty sure if you just wanted to read this it could easily fit several places in the timeline. (Perhaps someone will comment on this review with thoughts on the details of the chronology – in looking at the Wookieepedia online it is probably simply because of the lore of some of the characters involved that place it here.)

Need a quick and silly Star Wars getaway – check this one out anytime!

[Mphecker · Rating 1 out of 5]

"Listen to me," Trace told him. "I don't know who you are, but I am in possession of a very special set of skills. If you bring my sister back right now, unharmed, then I'll let you go. But if you don't, I promise you, I will track you down. I will find you. And I will make you pay."


Ugh, no thank you. I've already seen Taken, I don't want to read Taken with Lightsabers.

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m still relatively a novice when it comes to the ‘Legends’ cannon, with this being only the fifth event on the timeline.
But having read a short story collection and others with characters based on comics and video games, It was quite refreshing to finally have a fully fledged novel.

Set in 3645 BBY - Red Harvest is a prequel to Death Troopers, it tells how the virus was created as Sith Lord Darth Scabrous seeks immortality after learning that he needs a rare Black Orchid for the final ingredient.

Of course he’s plan fails and unleashes a plague, I’m a big horror fan so I liked this element of the story. I always feel that an expanded universe should always try and incorporate other genres.

My main negative was the fact that their were just so many characters in the story, it was hard to keep track of them. Thought it was action packed so I was easily swept along.

I definitely had fun reading this one!
Is it a good Star Wars novel? Possibly not. I’d be better placed to evaluate this one once I’ve reach Death Troopers.
It was certainly entertaining but surreal at times with talking trees and force flowers!

[CS · Rating 3 out of 5]

Zombies, Blood, and Gore, Oh My!

Darth Scabrous is cooking up a little potion that is supposed to be the Fountain of Youth, of sorts. He hires Whiphid bounty hunter, Tulkh, to get a Murakami orchid from the Jedi. Tulkh does this, but also picks up Jedi Knight, Hestizo "Zo" Trace. But Scabrous' mixture doesn't quite create what he wanted...sure, the poor Nicktr is immortal, but he's also a Living Dead out to kill whomever stands in his path. *Gulp*

NOTE: I received the NOVEL form via Amazon's Vine Program. At one point, I'll revise this review to include my new insights from actually reading the book.

These books (Death Troopers and Red Harvest) have come under quite a bit of fire because, I guess, they are cliched and don't feel Star Wars. I'm still scratching my head over that. Sure, the zombie/horror cliches abound in droves in these books, and a lot of unknown or new characters are used, but I thought the whole point of these books was to bring in a new genre into the realm of Star Wars. I think Schreiber does a more than decent job, given what he has to work with. That said, however, I still find Red Harvest not as strong a novel as Death Troopers was.

The entire cast is brand new, so basically, any one of them may die during the course of this novel. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing; Death Troopers got a lot of flak for two high profile (and very much alive post-DT) characters that pop in at the halfway mark. So I like not knowing who will survive to the end. However, I almost wish there was ONE name I did recognize. But by far, the biggest problem I had with the cast was the size. There seemed to be a bajillion characters, and I had difficulty juggling who each one was, where each one was, and what he/she was doing. Hand in hand, none of the characters really stood out. Darth Scabrous was an interesting villain, but he pretty much was Crazy Insane Evil Scientist/Sith. Hestizo Trace made me want to slap her. I felt she was completely useless (she ALWAYS has to have someone else come to save her). Her brother, Rojo Trace, serves absolutely no other purpose than to fill out the page count and make Hestizo look even more useless than she already is. There were a bunch of Sith students, but I could only remember Nicktr and Lussk. The rest were blanks. Well, except for the one character I found myself really liking, the Whiphid bounty hunter, Tulkh. Man, I didn't think I would get so attached to him, but I thought he was well-written and DIFFERENT. (Yay to Schreiber for including non-humans--even if he is one of the ONLY non-humans in the book...)

I actually didn't mind the "talking flower" addition to the storyline. Schreiber really made it work (perhaps because he calls back to the cheesy B-movies of the 50's/60's?). In fact, during the first half, I was really interested in and was 100% ready to give this a 4 star. However, as the story progress, it got hampered by the unweildy cast, a lot of distractions that the characters are forced through (climbing up ravines, running there only to have to run back to here), and the STUPID inclusion of having to eat the heart of a Jedi (good GOD, is this "Temple of Doom"?!). In fact, that last plot point is what really drug down the rating. Oh, that and how the protagonists escape in an almost identical scene to Death Troopers (if not identical, then suspiciously similar). Copy-paste, much?

John Glover, of Smallville fame (at least, that's how I know him), narrates this, and ZOMG, he is SO FRAKKIN' AWESOME! Five thousand stars for his performance in this. He has the PERFECT voice for horror, and, as unbelievable as this sounds (at least, it did to me), he can do some half-decents voices!! I loved the childish voice he gave the orchid (maybe that is why I actually didn't mind that plot point...). This was literally the best 8+ hrs of my life; in fact, I found myself having to go BACK on my iPod because I got stuck listening to his voice and not what he was saying!!!

Red Harvest isn't as strong as Death Troopers, but it's a decent zombie novel (NOTE: the faint of stomach should avoid AT ALL COSTS, it is just as gory and violent and disgusting as Death Troopers). It was definitely different, played around in an unexplored era, and provided backstory to Death Troopers. If you didn't like Death Troopers, run, don't walk, away from this book. Otherwise, sure, give it a try. I highly recommend the audiobook...

UPDATE 11/09/12: I just finished rereading this book for my Star Wars Book Club's scary Halloween book. Here are a few of my thoughts.

I found myself liking Rojo Trace and Tulkh way more. Especially Tulkh. I thought he was a cool character before, but this time around, I found even more to like about him. His competence, his quiet resolve, the way he was kinda creepy, yet was considerate enough to look out for Hestizo. Rojo Trace was also more interesting; he was a Jedi, but not friendly and outgoing as you might expect. Instead, he was rather single-minded and cold.

Unfortunately, my earlier character assessment also rang true. First off, there were way too many human characters for a book set when the Sith reign (and by "Sith" I mean the species, not just the religious order). Secondly, there were only TWO females in the entire book. Not cool. Thirdly, those two females were rather pathetic, even up against all the pathetic characters. Hestizo Trace continuously has to be saved. In her defense, I will say she does get a moment to shine, and at the end she makes an important decision about what to do with her life. However, I thought her job pretty much amounted to being captured and having a man save her. Not cool. Kindra was a bit better - she was definitely more competent and capable.

I had trouble picking apart the Sith students from each other. The only one that stood out was Scopique, and I think that was more because he was Zabrak than because he had an actual character. I was rather disappointed that some characters who had been earmarked as being super important disappeared for half the novel only to turn up at the very end. And I realize all these complaints may be silly because this is a "plot-driven" novel, but I do like to have characters to cheer for in a race against death.

I still liked the story. There was something about the "Evil Orchid" that just worked, like the B-movie I spoke of in my initial review. However, I still think it's incredibly stupid and silly that the ONLY WAY to get immortality is to cut out the heart of a Jedi and eat it live. It really makes no sense. Why would the midichlorians of a Jedi work? Why not use a Sith heart? Why does the heart need to be cut out with a Sith blade? Why does it have to be eaten live? Wouldn't drinking blood worked? Oh, right...rule of DRAMA!

This book definitely has flaws. Characterization isn't its strong suit, the story is a bit goofy in places. But if you want something that is fast-paced, quick to read (it's really only 255 pages in paperback!), and gory (and when I say gory, I am NOT overstating it - do NOT eat while reading this!), this is certainly not the worst thing you could read. And it does make a good Halloween book.

[Dexcell · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't think there's another Star Wars book I hate more than this one.

[Steve · Rating 1 out of 5]

Good lord someone please stop this man from writing more Star Wars Novels. Lets face it kids, this book sucked for many reasons. The Sith Academy is now on some new ice ball planet. Training sith with no balls. Sometimes these acolytes seem more in tune with the light side than the dark. Whats up with acolytes or initiates who can use Force Lightning one minute and cant handle a training blade the next. Light Sabers seem to be nearly non existent in the book with maybe a maximum of half a dozen one planet yet somehow nearly mindless zombies seem to magically find 200 of them at one point in this novel. Whats up with Zo who one minute can move the speed of light at one part in the novel to shred several dozen sith zombies to pieces and at another point can't handle a fight with a clunky alien with a spear in another. So many things about this novel left me frustrated and angry. I wonder if this guy wrote this steaming turd based on watching trailers for the films. I wonder if he is familiar with the time period and Star Wars universe at all. It's inconsistent and the force users are borderline moronic on both sides. I've read some bad Star Wars novels, but this one is a big steaming turd in my book.

[Emmett Spain · Rating 1 out of 5]

When your novel is based around a “people in constant and immediate peril” concept, you need to care about the characters. You don’t need to like them all, but you need to at least care. The story is predicated upon these people being under threat, and if you don’t mind whether they get filleted or not, then you’ve got nothing.

With that in mind I present to you Star Wars: Red Harvest – a book that trades interesting characters for overwritten descriptions and more gore than you can poke a large intestine at.

The story itself is standard stuff – people on a planet being assailed by zombies created by a special orchid twisted by some dark science – and the start is promising enough. But when the action starts the scenes quickly become monotonous and criminally boring, with over-the-top descriptions filling the place of character and meaningful story. The words glottal, juicy, dripping etc all get a workout, and if you down a shot of Jack every time the word “scream” appears you’ll be dead by the midway point. Sure, a lot of that is necessary—this is a book about zombies after all—but the problem is that this sort of overwritten nonsense is all you really get from Red Harvest. I couldn’t have given a stuff if any of these people survived, died, or won the lottery. Very, very bland characters in a setting that promised more than it delivered.

So I implore you, don’t bother with this. And if you’re thinking of bothering, I present to you the following description from the novel which I think sums the whole thing up well.

“Her hands felt like cold roast nerf strapped to her wrists.”

Make the force help you keep the f**k away.

[Jonathan Koan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I thought that Death Troopers was well written, but it just didn't grab me personally that much. This one, however, had me intrigued from the beginning until the end.

First of all, as a Horror book, this book is excellent! I thought the many scares and creepy reveals were excellent. There is a scene where Darth Scabrous makes someone eat something and it is just horrific...and its early on in the book.

I also loved how Schreiber used tropes well here. There is a "final girl" in this book (and you can absolutely figure out who it is from like her first appearance). And even though I knew she was the final girl, I spent the whole book wondering if she wouldn't make it.

The explanation for how the zombies were formed was excellent and I was really intrigued by the Sith characters, as well as our good guy Jedi characters.

One thing the book lacked was enough development for Pergus Frode. We needed perhaps 25-50 more pages of him.

The book is really short, but it definitely accomplishes what it sets out to do. Overall, I really enjoyed it and look forward to reading more from Joe Schreiber in the future. 8.5 out of 10!

[Don Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book is awesome! I have read late Rise of the Empire era books recently ( Darth Plagueis , Cloak of Deception , Labyrinth of Evil , Revenge of the Sith , etc., and Red Harvest finally had me excited about a Legends book. My experience is limited, though.

Joe Schreiber is an excellent writer and his descriptions of everything in the book are fantastic. For me, this is not a silly zombies in Star Wars read. It is a fun, wild, and engrossing story of Sith experiments gone haywire. The action is relevant to the story, I think the characters are interesting, it feels like a Star Wars book to me, and it is very well told.

I was surprised at how well the character development progressed. It was perfect - not too little and not too much - for my taste (with one exception noted below). I know this book may not be for everyone. However, I suggest it as a great side story in the Star Wars Legends saga as a fun read that is written exceptionally well.

I give Red Harvestfour star, flirting with five. I love this book as a whole, but I was hoping to see more use of Lussk, and the 'talking' orchid was a bit much for me. Otherwise, great little book.

[Caleb Likes Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just flew through this one in two hours. Sure, it’s short, but I don’t think I’ve ever finished a full novel in one sitting before. If you can’t tell, I really liked this one.

The premise is admittedly pretty silly, especially for Star Wars: a Sith creates a zombie-like virus that gets out of hand very quickly. Zombies and Star Wars don’t initially seem like a great mix but this was such an exciting read. I couldn’t put it down. I always wanted to see what was going to happen next, the pacing was quick, and the action was tons of fun.

If there are any negatives I’d point out, the characters are very, very underdeveloped—although I suppose that makes sense considering what happens in the book. But that didn’t bother me too much since this wasn’t really a character book, and was much more focused on the horror and action.

Overall this was a very fun read. It’s different for Star Wars which makes it stand out, for better or worse, but it was extremely entertaining. One of my favorite reads this year.

Rating: 9.5/10

[Lance Shadow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Big thank you to my goodreads pal Crystal Starr Light for sending me this book!
Anyways, it's the month of horror and two days until Halloween, so I didn't think there would be any better time to read and review Joe Schrieber's mashup between star wars and zombie horror.

This book is well known as one of the most hated star wars novels in existence, whether it be from the legends or canon continuity. But, honestly... I didn't think it was that bad. Ok, it's not great, or even that good, but it certainly isn't the abomination that many others talk it up to be.

THE STORY: Through a reference to the sacking of Coruscant and external sources, we know this novel takes place in the SWTOR era, but that's not important. Darth Scabrous wants to become immortal. Over the course of his experiments, he starts a zombie plague on the frozen planet of Odacer-Faustin as you're left wondering if any of the bajillion characters will survive, or more importantly, will you even care.

THE BAD: Remember me saying that there was a bajillion characters in this book? Well, that's the main problem. It's not the zombies, it's not the whole eating-the-heart-of-a-jedi thing, it's not the silly concept of an orchid talking to a jedi telepathically. Whatever you think of those outlandish ideas (for the most part, they actually didn't bother me), the biggest issue with this book is the same problem that plagues other bad star wars stories like Threat of Peace and especially Fatal Alliance: this book is MASSIVELY overstuffed with characters, to the point where as soon as the book switches to the point of view of another character or group of characters you almost forgot that they were even in the book. You thought the 8 stereotypical blandjobs in Fatal Alliance was too much? Try following what feels like more than double that in Red Harvest, in barely more than half the number of pages. You know how in many successful horror setups like "Alien", "Haloween", and "It", even though you have a big group of characters, it's just, you know, ONE GROUP? Well try following at least 3 groups of characters at a time with Red Harvest. You see where I'm going with this?
In all seriousness, the fact that the book tries to handle to many characters with too many subplots and arcs almost makes the book unravel. Like any other genre of story, you need good characters in a horror setup. You need to be invested in the characters for the horror to work. The overrated 2016 horror film Don't Breathe illustrates this perfectly: I actually thought the setup for the film was genius and had alot of the "scares" had potential to be spine-chilling, but it was squandered because none of the characters were likeable (they were all complete jerks). Because of this, the scares failed because I didn't care for any of the people involved in this supposedly terrifying situation.
Red Harvest has the same problem: I just wasn't able to feel for or connect with any of the characters, so the scares just did not work. Again, the book wasn't scary not because the zombies didn't feel like star wars, it was simply because I wasn't invested in the characters.
Even the characters that I would consider my favorite (Rojo Trace, Tulkh, and Darth Scabrous) had too many problems with how they were written to be invested. Scabrous had the same problems as Darth Karrid from Annihilation had- gimmicks in place of characterization. Scabrous was a menacing villain, but he had no character that differentiates him from any other sith bad guy. Sure, he combines sith lord with frankenstein (the scientist, not the monster), but again, that's a gimmick. It also didn't help that despite being one of the coolest characters he was in probably less than 10% of the book.
Tulkh was the one character I was truly rooting for, but that was more because he was badass and unique in that he used a spear and a bow and arrows. So like Darth Karrid, he stands out for a unique design, but I still think his character is not very well written, as his motivations go all over the place after he gets paid for the job he is hired to do. I couldn't figure out if his character decisions for most of the book were compelling or out of character.
Rojo Trace is probably the most interesting character in this overbloated cast. I like how cold and detached he is, as if he took the jedi ideals of not being affected by emotions too far. But here's the caveat: he has even less page time than darth scabrous.

What about our protagonist, Hestizo Trace? oh god, here goes nothing.
This is one of the worst characters I have encountered in a star wars story. And this is after sitting through a laughably bad portrayal of Luke Skywalker in Dark Empire, the exposition vessel in a sea of comic book narration that was Teneb Kel in Blood of the Empire, Dao Stryver and the stupid character twist in Fatal Alliance, the lifeless versions of Finn and Rey in Alan Dean Foster's The Force Awakens, or the poorly conceived take on Leia in Princess Leia. When your rare-for-a-star-wars-book female protagonist makes me miss the insultingly weak, out-of-character Bastila from Revan, you have a big problem.
Ok, so why is Hestizo Trace such an awful character? Well, despite being a kriffing jedi, she is incredibly weak. I get that fighting is not supposed to be a jedi's first instinct, but that's not the same from NEVER TAKING INITIATIVE UNTIL ANOTHER CHARACTER TELLS YOU TOO. I did not find one instance where Trace made any kind of decisions on her own. She always waits until another character tells her too do something, whether it be Tulkh, Rojo, or the voice of the orchid inside her head. Then there's the fact that every other scene she gets kidnapped and has to be rescued. Why, just WHY?
Oh, and then there's her decision to go to Coruscant to train at the jedi temple there. Either it's a continuity error on Schrieber's part or Hestizo is even dumber than I thought. Taking place during the SWTOR era, the temple on Coruscant was destroyed when the planet was sacked (to prove my point, the ruins of the jedi temple on coruscant is an explore-able area in the SWTOR video game). For the benefit of the doubt on Hestizo's part, I'd like to believe the former, but I wouldn't mind believing the latter so this book can fit without contradicting anything (afterall, I disliked the character already).

THE GOOD: Yes, the cast of characters sucks. But honestly, the rest of this book ranges from ok to actually pretty good.
The best parts of this book are surprisingly the horror elements. Even though the book wasn't scary, I thought the gore and the zombie action actually was quite a bit of fun. As a whole, I think Joe Schrieber did a great job integrating the elements of horror into the book and made it feel like a compelling aspect of the Star Wars universe.
"But Lance, you can't possibly say that when this book has ZOMBIES! Zombies don't feel like Star Wars!"
Frankly, I disagree. I had no problem with the zombies at all. I can understand if people don't like the idea of eating the heart of a jedi, but if you can use dark magic or necromancy to make zombies in other fantasy universes, why couldn't a sith lord in Star Wars use the dark side of the force to do the same? It also helps that this takes place during the old republic era, where over the top uses of the force are easier to accept for me.
If there was any idea that I found stupid, it was the psychic connection Hestizo had with the orchid, but again, people can have magical interactions with plants in other fantasy worlds, so why can't it happen in star wars also, particularly because the force is supposed to flow in all living things? plants are living things too.
I think the writing, when not concerning the characterization, was great. The atmosphere was particularly good, and I was left with an uncomfortable and creepy feeling after many passages in the book. Even if the payoffs didn't result in good scares, the efforts by Schrieber to build tension were almost always well done. The scenes with Darth Scabrous in confined rooms carrying out his plans were particularly creepy and effective. Even though eating a heart was a questionable idea, the scene where it's about to happen had a very tense buildup.
The book had a fun story that lead to some very good action scenes. The moment where Tulkh and Hestizo were cornered by undead and the action stunts pulled off by Hestizo were honestly kind of awesome (too bad hestizo couldn't do that without Tulkh telling her too). And just about any gorefest featuring the sith students or Tulkh and the HK droid against the zombies was just plain entertaining.
Honestly, even though I hated the character of Hestizo Trace, the fact that this book is stuck jumping to so many different points of view keeps her out of the book enough to be tolerable.
And I need to reiterate, I liked the worldbuilding. I though the book did a good job integrating zombies into star wars, as well as Scabrous's experiments that lead to the zombies. I enjoyed seeing more of the inner workings of the sith on this new academy on Odacer Faustin, even if the elements of a sith academy's inner workings were done better in Path of Destruction.

THE CONCLUSION: While I don't think this is a great novel by any means, I don't hate this book the way other people do. The writing is effective at conveying a lot of creepy atmosphere, building up plenty of tension, portraying some fun action sequences, and integrating the ideas of mad science and zombie plagues into Star Wars. But most of the characters are just there to die gruesome deaths, and the ones that aren't either don't get enough page time or are not written well.
Overall, I see this book in the same vein that I do the Hotel Transylvania films- if Red Harvest were a movie, I'd probably see it as a Halloween movie. Many people like to watch Halloween- themed movies like Hocus Pocus, Nightmare Before Christmas, or, well, Halloween, around the time of Halloween. That's how I see Red Harvest- a decent but highly flawed Halloween book with a star wars skin. And in that regard, I can enjoy it as a guilty pleasure. This is definitely not a high choice for me to read most of the time, but when the month of horror rolls around next October, don't be surprised if I pick up Red Harvest again for another round of over the top Star Wars gore.

[Clarence Reed · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Star Wars zombie book? Pick a lane.

[Scott Rhee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joe Schreiber continues his fun zombie-filled "Star Wars" series that he started in "Death Troopers" with "Red Harvest".

More of a prequel than a continuation of the events in "Death Troopers", "Red Harvest" takes place in the legendary period known as the Old Republic, thousands of years prior to the events of the "Star Wars" films.

The story is set on the wintry-cold planet of Odacer-Faustin, which is the location of a Sith Academy. Lording over the school is Darth Scabrous, a tyrannical and twisted Sith Lord notorious for his cruelty and "experiments" on unruly students.

Longing for immortality, Darth Scabrous seeks to recreate an experiment of a previous Sith Lord. In order for it to succeed, he needs a rare Murakami orchid and a young Jedi. Hiring bounty hunters to find them, Scabrous succeeds in kidnapping Hestizo "Zo" Trace, a young Jedi with a rare talent for communicating telepathically with plants and flowers.

When Scabrous's experiment goes awry, turning students (and himself) into bloodthirsty living dead, Zo and her kidnapper, a bounty hunter named Tulkh, must fight their way off the zombie planet of Odacer-Faustin, but it may not be that easy considering these zombies know how to use the Dark Side of the Force.

Another fun, bloody good read from Schreiber. Hopefully more zombie "Star Wars" books will follow...

[Darlene · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read Death Troopers as well and I think I liked that one a bit better because it had Han Solo and other original characters. This story was written well, but it wasn't an interesting story. It adds a small amount to the Star Wars lore, but not that much. For me, it was a basic zombie story involving the Sith, nothing too exciting.

[Andreas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite as good as Death Troopers, but still pretty fun and gory.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

Following the success of last year's "Death Troopers," "Red Harvest" gives us another zombie/"Star Wars" mash-up.

This time instead of zombies attacking and eating the brains of storm troopers, it's the Jedi taking on zombies. And not just any Jedi, mind you but an isolated training camp of Sith apprentices. On the surface it seems to have a lot of potential for a lot of fun and mayhem within "a galaxy far, far away." But just like "Death Troopers," "Red Harvest" comes up just a bit short for a lot of the same reasons.

The biggest thing working against the book is a lack of familiar characters. At least "Death Troopers" had a big, twist cameo halfway to keep things going. Nothing much here. Instead, we get a lot of characters who are simply in the book to become zombie fodder over the course of the story. In a zombie movie, shallowly developed characters who are zombie food isn't necessarily a horrible thing. In a novel, it doesn't quite work as well since we don't have as much investment in the characters. The story does develop a handful of characters beyond a basic outline, but it doesn't necessarily go anywhere new or interesting with them.

Of course, I could be thinking about this too much for my own good. At times I found myself clicking off my brain and just going along for the ride. I enjoyed those moments, but minor niggling details kept cropping up to take me out of things.

That's not to say there aren't some cool moments here. It's Jedi battling zombies.

But it the end, it should be cooler than it ends up being. File this one under a good attempt but ultimately a disappointment.

[Maurice Spurgeon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was genuinely unsettled for 90% of this book. The way the author described the body and psychological horror of a zombifying virus taking over a Sith planet was visceral as all get out. This book reached Dead Space levels of gore in my opinion, which some people may not like, but didnt completely turn me off of the book. The experience was definitely improved by having John Glover, who played Lionel Luthor from Smallville, narrate it. So far the Legends books I’ve read have been great and I hope the next one continues that trend

8/10

[ᒪᗴᗩᕼ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3½⭐ | NARRATION 😀 = Good | Narrated by 📣 John Glover

🔦FEATURING
❐ Star Wars Legends
❐ Horror --Zombie’s
❐ A Virus that kills and then reanimates

I feel like this will appeal more to Zombie book lovers who also like Star Wars, more so than the hardcore Star Wars fanatics. Unless they also like Zombies, then maybe???

For someone who is not really a fanatic but does like to read a Star Wars book here and there like me, this type of story can be a good fit. Because you don’t have to know every little detail about the universe to follow this book and its story. With that being said, I did have some issues with some of the weird supernatural-feeling elements, they kind of threw me off from loving the story. That business with the tree/librarian was way out there.


🅒🅐🅦🅟🅘🅛🅔 6.50/❿
🅒haracters ￫ 6.5
🅐tmosphere ￫ 7
🅦riting ￫ 6.5
🅟lot ￫ 7
🅘ntrigue ￫ 7
🅛ogic ￫ 5
🅔njoyment ￫ 6.5

[Steph LaPlante · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was definitely not for me, at all. I laughed a lot throughout the book and made fun of it a lot, sorry.....

[Joshua Bishop · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was…just so bad. And not like an 80’s, campy, horror flick or book. That I expected, this was just objectively bad. From the quote taken directly from Taken or some incorrect things both canonically or from earlier sections of the book, it was just bad.

[Katrin von Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Joe Schreiber is perhaps one of the most divisive writers in the “Star Wars” franchise. I enjoyed “Death Troopers” as a fun zombie adventure, something a little different in the Galaxy Far Far Away that utilized common horror tropes very effectively, but I was more than a little trepidatious about starting “Red Harvest,” Schreiber’s second spooky “Star Wars” offering. See, whenever this book seems to come up in “Star Wars” conversation, it’s often derided as the worst installment in the Expanded Universe, which isn’t a particularly comforting endorsement. Having now finished the novel, I’m scratching my head over this claim by a lot of fans. While I didn’t enjoy it as much as “Death Troopers,” “Red Harvest” succeeds at capturing both the entertainment and issues of a horror B-movie, and despite its flaws, it still ends up being entertaining. Spoilers follow.

Darth Scabrous, Sith Lord and leader of the Odacer-Faustin Sith Academy is cooking up a sinister plan to obtain immortality. Key to achieving it is the acquisition of the Murakami orchid, a rare, Force-sensitive flower that is housed in the Jedi Agricultural Corps facility on the planet Marfa. Scabrous has a bounty on the orchid, and it’s Whipid bounty hunter Tulkh who finally brings the Dark Lord not only the flower, but also Hestizo “Zo” Trace, the Jedi Padawan that the orchid had bonded to and without whom couldn’t survive. When Scabrous’s plan is revealed, it unleashes a horrifying virus upon the academy, killing everything it encounters and then reanimating its victims into mindless monsters that both hunger for flesh and spread the virus. Zo and Tulkh find themselves fighting for survival, but for Zo, the nightmare has only just begun – she also has a prime role in Scabrous’s plan, one that promises a gruesome end for her. It soon becomes clear that the only person that she can rely on is herself…assuming she can survive the horrors coming her way.

“Red Harvest” is the epitome of a horror B-movie. It’s fun and exciting, meant to be enjoyed at face value with a bag of popcorn. The story clips along at a good pace with plenty of action to keep the reader eagerly turning the pages. The pace tends to be very fast with few “slower” scenes to break up the excitement, but that actually works really well for this sort of novel since it successfully evokes an overwhelming “fight or flight” sort of helpless survival feel that a good horror story should. It pulls in a lot of horror film tropes that are blatant, but not unwelcome (I would argue that they fit quite well in a franchise that already incorporates many classic tropes and themes). It’s an easy, fun read that keeps you entertained and flipping through the pages and doesn’t pretend to be anything more than what it is: a tropey horror romp in our favourite Galaxy Far Far Away. A little cheesy sometimes with the zombie motifs? Sure…but what B-film isn’t?

I’ve seen a fair number of complaints about how “Red Harvest” doesn’t really “fit” into the “Star Wars” franchise, and I’ll admit to being a little perplexed by that statement. It’s immediately apparent that this is perhaps one of the more unique installments in the series, but when I think back to the many novels and media that the EU is comprised of, there are other events and stories that stand out in my mind as being out of place more than this one (Waru in “Crystal Star” comes immediately to mind, as does the time travel element that’s central to the plot in “Crosscurrent”). “Red Harvest” is certainly all set around a very strong theme and unabashedly calls on many well-known horror clichés to aid the story, but that doesn’t immediately make it stand out as “not Star Wars enough” in my mind. Given the unstable nature that we’ve seen portrayed in Sith Lords in the past, it seems reasonable that someone like Darth Scabrous could be plotting something this insane at a far-flung Sith academy somewhere. The story is also reasonably well-contained, giving a convenient explanation to why this event hasn’t popped up elsewhere in the EU. There are issues with the novel, sure, and the strong horror motifs won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but I don’t think it deserves the scorn that it’s getting for not fitting in when this franchise is honestly fairly notorious for going a little “out there” sometimes.

I did sometimes find myself wishing that the zombies had a little more “Star Wars” pizzazz in addition to their more generic monster qualities. I mean, this is an academy full of Sith hopefuls…let’s get some demented Force use or lightsaber battles! Mindless flesh-eating zombies are already pretty scary, but why not up the ante by having them use their Force abilities to wreak havoc? You know, call on those horrible Sith powers to trap victims or something. The lightsabers sort of get used, I suppose, but only in the way that a brain-dead zombie would utilize any weapon. Perhaps the point is that the monsters are supposed to be husks with nothing left of their former selves, but I so desperately wanted to see some more “Star Wars” uniqueness to their gruesome qualities.

So, as I said above, I very much enjoyed the tropey, monster horror film vibe that his novel gave and was happily reading along…until I hit the “heart of the Jedi” thing. I’m not entirely sure what about it rubbed me the wrong way, but it just felt like the cliché that took the previously enjoyable “cheese” factor a little too far. I’d have been much happier had it stayed as a simple zombie survival story complete with telepathic plants – I can get behind and have fun with that as something light and entertaining. The “heart of the Jedi” twist was silly and over the top, and I think the novel would have induced a few fewer eyerolls without it.

I also feel that it’s worth mentioning to any parents or squeamish readers out there that the blood and gore level in “Red Harvest” is pretty insane. Personally, I’m ok with this (hey, if we’re gonna go full-on horror flick in theme, I think some zombie gore is a must), but I can easily see it turning away some readers. It’s all thematically appropriate and I think it’s generally assumed that zombies are going to come with gratuitous amounts of blood, but there are plenty of moments that could be described as more than a little disturbing. Just to give a heads up.

And before I move on, I have one little nerd nitpick. Admittedly, my in-depth knowledge of “Star Wars” lore isn’t what it once was, so it’s entirely possible that I’m mistaken here, but Zo being referred to as a Padawan doesn’t seem to jive with her position as a member of AgriCorps. My understanding of AgriCorps is that it’s comprised of Initiates who failed their Trials and therefore weren’t chosen as Padawans. Zo’s background itself isn’t really explored much, but her Force abilities seem often tenuous (beyond her connection to the Murakami flower) and hard for her to access, which points to the possible reason that she’s at AgriCorps instead of continuing her training as a Padawan. At the end of the novel, she decides to return to Coruscant to continue her Jedi training. Is that how it works? Again, my recollection of the Jedi training hierarchy and its flow isn’t as sharp these days, but I wasn’t aware that one could just choose to leave AgriCorps to try becoming a Padawan again. It’s a minor thing and doesn’t have much impact on the story, but it stood out to me as something that didn’t feel quite right.

Regrettably, where “Red Harvest” starts to lose some serious points is the characters. I suppose you could say that that’s perfectly in line with the B-movie theme that I’ve been comparing this novel to, but when I read, I read for characters, so this is sort of a problem for me. Beginning with Zo, our protagonist, we’re off to a bad start. She’s one of the most helpless, passive main characters that I’ve encountered. I was initially hopeful for her character because I tend to like characters that aren’t just “strong Jedi” and I looked forward to seeing a member of AgriCorps (a failed Padawan, if this novel is following my understanding of the lore) dig deep into herself to find the courage to push forward in the face of great odds. Instead, I got a whiny, useless character that spends most of the book being saved by someone else (usually Tulkh) and generally being too paralyzed by fear and confusion to really do anything. This sometimes isn’t a bad thing if there’s character development to be gained through it, but Zo’s character is so thin that it’s hard to glean anything from her. When she does manage to tap into her Force abilities, she’s pretty darn impressive, but it takes her so long to do it that it’s less of a breakthrough moment and more of a “finally!” sort of reaction. As I read “Red Harvest,” I ended up going through the actions that I also experience during plenty a bad horror flick, practically screaming at the main character to come to her senses and bloody do something!...only this was more frustrating because, unlike a scary movie, I wanted to like this as more than a simple popcorn flick. I just wish that Zo had embodied a little more personality, a little more courageousness, more confidence, and more relevance to the plot beyond the orchid needing her to survive.

Most of the other characters don’t fare much better. The entire academy of Sith apprentices are very nondescript, serving primarily as zombie fodder. I suppose I’d hoped that since, at least in the beginning, several are set up as distinct characters, they’d matter a little bit as individuals, but in the end it doesn’t really matter. They all meet the same end and none of them are very memorable. Darth Scabrous, is an over-the-top evil mastermind to the point that he’s almost laughable (in that endearing, horror cliché way). He serves his purpose, sure, and he sets everything into motion, but he’s nothing more than that, really. Rojo Trace has an intriguing premise: a Jedi that has completely distanced himself from all emotions aside from the devotion he experiences for his sister in her time of need. This has the potential to be very interesting, but since this novel is focused more on monsters and gore than character, he’s underdeveloped and falls flat, seeming to just move through the motions rather than demonstrating any personality or character growth. I guess I just wanted to see more out of the characters. I’m content with a cheesy plot if it’s fun, but I desperately wanted some more developed characters to take this story from “horror romp” to a unique, complete “Star Wars” installment.

The one exception to this is Tulkh, the Whipid bounty hunter that succeeds in kidnapping both the orchid and Zo. His perspective is so unique, both because he’s a bounty hunter (which is always fun in this universe) and a Whipid (a race that I had to google…which I always enjoy!). He’s something that we haven’t really seen in the “Star Wars” franchise, and I enjoyed his part for that…yet I couldn’t help but wonder if this characterization is more accidental than intentional. Schreiber strives at writing a riveting story, but he sort of stumbles when it comes to characters, so I’m not entirely sure that the intriguing character that we see in Tulkh is genuine intention on the author’s part or something that just happened to fall in place. And I feel terrible for saying that. Still, seeing Tulkh go from heartless bounty hunter to protecting Zo to begging Zo to kill him because he has the Sickness is riveting and exciting, and his presence is the shining star in this novel.

“Red Harvest” is very much the B-Movie of the “Star Wars” Legends franchise. Like a horror flick, it has an exciting, action-driven plot that’s propelled by gore, tropes, and yes, a certain amount of cheese. Sometimes the corniness is a little much for even me, but it still feels like it fits in the “Star Wars” franchise as something a little different. The characters are largely lackluster, save for Tulkh, who manages to be a shining beacon in a sea of bland characters. “Red Harvest” is the epitome of a “Star Wars” horror flich. It is an exciting (if tropey), unique installment in this long-running franchise, rife with horror clichés and one-dimensional characters. Three stars.

[Dimitris Papastergiou · Rating 1 out of 5]

I never thought I'd rate a Star Wars story with one star, but, here we go..

this was bad and if you're thinking of reading this one, please don't.

Nothing interesting and a chore to read. But the problem here is not just the plot, which is basically a Sith Lord who takes students and he's trying to perfect an older formula from another Sith Lord(?) for trying to achieve immortality and he ends up making the Sith students zombies.

Let me say this once: Star Wars + Zombies = NO.

But, again, if the story and the characters had an ounce of interest and/or any development whatsoever, this would be tolerable, but it was cheesy and cliche, the way they talked to each other and their choices were pretty much dumb and convenient for the story to proceed.

What was super bad here, was the writing. It was awful. It was so bad I wanted it to at least have something good in it so I won't rate a Star Wars book with 1 star because I'm a sucker for Star Wars but no. It couldn't even be just an ok story. And the important thing is that the author pretty much wrote this thinking everyone is dumb and no-one watches movies or reads books.

He actually wrote and I quote " Listen to me, Trace told him. I don't know who you are, but I am in possession of a very special set of skills. If you bring my sister back right now, unharmed, then I'll
let you go. But if you don't, I promise you, I will track you down. I will find you. And
I will make you pay."

And here is a random quote from the movie Taken starring Liam Neeson: " I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have, are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career, skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you, but if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you and I will kill you."

I mean.. really bro?

Stay away from this book.

[Andy · Rating 1 out of 5]

How bad a writer is Joe Schreiber, the scribe behind "Star Wars: The Kids Like Zombies These Days, Right?" So bad as to include his area RedBox as his muse. Notice, if you will, this little nugget as one Jedi discovers his sister is missing:

"Listen to me," Trace told him. "I don't know who you are, but I am in possession of a very special set of skills. If you bring my sister back right now, unharmed, then I'll let you go. But if you don't, I promise you, I will track you down. I will find you. And I will make you pay."



If that passage seems familiar, you may recall a 2008 Liam Neeson action film from which this piece of dialogue was all but "Taken."

[Will Higginson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is objectively a terrible book. I loved it!

[Adam Kiewel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I want to start by being positive. The worst part about this book was that it actually had promise. The first 75 pages or so were actually really, really good and I was preparing to give it praise, despite knowing what was coming with its dies to death troopers. The author is actually quite good at building up characters. Ironically, if he wasn't going for the weird story that he settled on, this story could have been great. There were a lot of arcs that were being built up and the story was really interesting.

Well, things change pretty fast in this story.

This book ironically would feel more at home in the Disney timeline. For some reason the author pays little to no attention to detail, leading to numerous inconsistencies that typically conclude in plot convenience. Nothing is ever truly explained in this book, outside of vague hints, and it feels more like a shamless horror fantasy than science fiction. Which would be fine, if he wasn't trying to cram this story into star wars. You simply can't cram zombies into a star wars story with no good explanation. In the expanded universe you absolutely can't have the inconsistencies that he wrote in this book. Pretty much everything from the top down in this one had no rules, and it gets worse the closer you look. Which is why, again, it feels like a Disney era novel. You can really only enjoy it if you turn off your brain and just accept everything that's happening in that moment, and forget that things didn't happen that way 10 pages ago. (Which is VERY clearly what the author wanted, intense drama in every moment with no regard to how it plays out in the story)

I was hoping the ending would help save this book, but its actually the reason I dropped it down another rating. The ending was truly awful, one of the worst I have ever read. I'm not kidding when I say that literally any other ending would have been better than what we got.

Truly, its just a shameful attempt to shove zombies and horror into a timeline that absolutely has no need or want for them. It was too over the top and far fetched for this timeline.

Also, what is with his obsession with the word grinning? He probably said it twice per page, and quite frankly, it does nothing for thr story, or even the mood he was trying to build. All it did was create more questions.

Another side note: what's the point of zombies that take one, singular bite of someone and then leave them alone? Doesn't that defeat the ENTIRE PURPOSE??

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting take on Star Wars & Zombies.


The book centers on a young Jedi named Hestizo Trace. Her Force powers are more inclined towards speaking with plants than chopping up dudes with lightsabers, which is actually a rather interesting take on things, considering we mostly only see space-samurai in the movies. “Zo” has a particular bond with a strange, force-sensitive flower known as the black orchid. Which makes things difficult when she and the flower are both kidnapped by a bounty hunter and sold to a dude named Darth Scabrous, who must have been at the back of the line when it came to getting cool “Darth” titles.
In any case, Scabrous takes Zo and the flower to his Sith-Academy (those are a thing? I guess it’s like Evil Hogwarts?) at which point he distills the black orchid down into some kind of weird potion thing that creates a zombie plague. As you do. And said plague gets loose in Evil-Hogwarts, creating a bunch of zombies, and mayhem ensues. As it does.
Of course, the biggest problem with zombies is … they can be a bit weak, as far as monsters go. Especially when you’re a telekinetic samurai with a laser sword. Schrieber does a little bit to make things more difficult. They’re fast zombies, for one. On top of that, they … have some sort of Force sensitivity and/or hive mind thing going? It’s not particularly clear. Oh, and they’re ridiculously infectious, too (of the ‘any body fluids’ variety) so that’s a thing, if a more standard zombie trope.

[Connor Barski · Rating 2 out of 5]

As someone who is biased towards Sith stories (shoutout Darth Bane) the idea of Sith alchemy leading to Sith zombies is a really fun idea to me. The issue lies in the execution.

Instead of an actual story or plot, this book ends up being a menagerie of POVs and gruesome scenes. We barely spend enough time with any character to call them the main character, and it makes the whole book feel disjointed and cheap. Constantly bouncing back and forth between characters we barely know, just to describe a new horror scene. Subplots went nowhere, characters are forgotten, and any story or lore is barely fleshed out.

There is one thing that cannot be denied about Joe Schreiber’s writing, he has an endless vocabulary for gruesome, disgusting, and horrific things. His descriptions are potent and detailed. He really makes your stomach churn.

[Miguel Aguila · Rating 3 out of 5]

Star Wars: Zombies

Overall, a decent and enjoyable read for the most part. Red Harvest was a fun Star Wars horror story, but unfortunately it suffered from being overstuffed with too many character POV's. I can understand what the author was trying to accomplish with the multiple POV's, but it ended up just taking away from the cohesiveness and fluidity of the plot, making the book feel disjointed. I've realized that quite a few of the Legends novels suffer from this (Fatal Alliance, for example).

I struggled with the first 20%-30% of the book because of all the POV jumping and disjointed storytelling. Fortunately, by the end I found Red Harvest to be decently enjoyable, and the horror aspects were fun and done pretty well. Would definitely recommend reading during "Spooky Season".

[Matt Weber · Rating 3 out of 5]

SMH, definitely not what I expected and not what I’d characterize as a typical Star Wars novel. My first zombie book and it was filled with blood and gore nearly start to finish. Entertaining, kept my attention for a while, but became repetitive and was difficult to figure out who I should be rooting for. It could have used a good dose of strategy, a skilled Jedi, and suspense though. Finished more out of disbelief in the number of acolytes torn to shreds and frankly could have been completed 100 pages quicker.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is fun. It has everything I want in a Star Wars book: light sabers, battles, Sith Lords, Jedi, new worlds to explore, tavern scenes!!, species I’ve never heard of, and…zombies??
Yeah, it’s weird, but the writer is VERY talented. I loved his prose. I wish I didn’t read this during breakfast one day, but other than that, it’s a fun, entertaining book with an ending that I really liked.
I recommend this to Star Wars/sci fi/horror fans. Weird but cool.