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Medstar I: Battle Surgeons

Author: Steve Perry and Michael Reaves
Artist: Dave Seeley
Publisher: Del Rey
Publication Date: July 2004

Reviewed by Andrew Liptak

Summary: Set during the battle of Drongar, the medical crew of Rimsoo Seven are responsible for the treatment of the casualties during the hostilities. The planet is home to Bota, a highly valued drug that is better in some cases than Bacta. The crew of Rimsoo Seven must deal with a high number of casualties, but also learn the humanity of Clones and droids alike. Along the way, they find that sabotage, traitors and corrupt military officials are all present and accounted for. And during their fight, they form friendships, relationships and experience joy and sorrow, with the backdrop of a war.

What Worked: First off, this book blew me off my feet. It is radically different than any other Star Wars book out there. Del Rey has done an excellent job with the Clone Wars novels and have done some very interesting and different types of novels. This one doesn't focus on the battles; it focuses on the people behind the war, and the effects that the war has on people.

The characters are probably some of the more believable and interesting that I've encountered yet. Like in any good novel, the characters are not single sided. There is one who is a traitor, another who wants nothing but to fight, still others who are using the war for their own profit, and yet others who want nothing more than to lead a normal life, away from the war. This is a strong, character-driven novel. This is the novels' primary strength.

There is also a lot of science in this book. As to be expected there is a lot of medical information in here. There are details on surgeries, but also science information about the planet, with the environment and similar things.

Some other things are very interesting. Fans of Michael Reaves previous Star Wars book, Shadow Hunters, will remember the droid I-Five, who returns in this novel, and is still a very interesting character who boarders on a very individual and unique droid, although this time with some more interesting goals, like to get drunk. He's not the only interesting character though, for we have a whole host of new and exciting characters that will hopefully be seen in future novels.

What Didn't Work: There are few problems with this book. I think that the only technical problem that I found was a character's name misspelled. The main complaint that I had was that there is no character list in the beginning of the book that some of the other novels have.

Overall: A very exciting and dramatic addition to the Clone Wars series, as well as a very different novel that what was expected.

Rating: 9.5/10

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