Very dark, very different, very good.

This book is quite the departure from a normal Star Wars novel, but that makes it memorable. More grim and graphic than most, although not gratuitous or without reason. I found the details of the warrior customs interesting instead of filler, the story engaging, and the ultimate payoff worth the trip. This is a helluva origin story for someone who was onscreen in The Force Awakens for less than five minutes and only had a handful of lines. I hope she's more prominent in The Last Jedi, after this read I definitely want to see her in battle on screen. Very different, but impressive, with a good performance as well, I found January's shifts to male voices to be particularly strong. The new EU has been good lately, with Thrawn and Catalyst being good standalone stories that tie in well and actually feel important, and this is on par with both.

13 people found this helpful

Sparknotes it and Buy a Diffrent Star Wars Books

The story was actually pretty good... accept for the main characters. I am a huge Star Wars fan, I really want to like this book, but I can't. Phasma in this book is a model Mary Sue (Also I'm pretty sure psychotic, literally). She never does wrong and she doesn't have that much character progression. What there is, is subtle and it seems well executed character progression at first. But, at the end we find out this is really just how she is and has been since a kid. It's no character development. She's an imperfect person but a perfect villain. It's clear that this book was just to tell us how the square peg was put into the square hole. It makes Phasma feel one dimensional and she never really screws up. She does some pretty terrible things and no consequences what so ever. That alone doesn't make you a Mary Sue but it dose when you take the rest of Phasma into consideration. She's also a jerk but that's a given. I actually found every other character in the novel pretty interesting, although sometimes they do some very unnecessary things that just makes me wonder why? Even the book admits this at times and they feel like unnecessary plot devices. There would have been better ways to do some of this stuff differently. I won't go into too much detail because I don't want to spoil it for anyone who does want to read the book. Also this book rips off fallout just a little bit, maybe not on purpose but yes.

I really liked the character of Cardinal Actually he was a really cool character in my opinion, probably because he's very human, and he has flaws, jealousies, suspicion, so on. He got a lot of character development as well. He gave us an interesting look into the psychology of a stormtrooper and I found myself wanting for the parts about Phasma to get over with so I could here more about him. I would like to read his story if they ever tell it. This book let us see Cardinal and three other First Order stormtroopers. it gave us a good look at the men and women under the helmet and let us see them as something more than a machine though not quite fully human. We rarely get a look at the stormtroopers perspective so that's fun.

I liked Siv too. She was an interesting character I thought, or an interesting narrator at least. near the end especially you are cheering her on.

overall it's a mixed bag. The story was interesting, I really enjoyed the story, especially the interludes between Phasma's story. Those were pretty interesting and the scenes with the Spy and Cardinal were great. Phasma was just too much of a Mary Sue for my taste. I wanted the first prominent female stormtrooper to be an interesting character but I just ended up hating her after reading this for the reason I've made very clear. It seems like she never lost a fight (one acceptation she quickly got her own back though), nothing ever stuck to her, she never did wrong, she was a kind of a jerk though. The reason I mark the story so low is because I feel like the book is named after her. it's more or less about her, but, I honestly like her a lot less after reading this than before.

If you want to read about a strong female Character then get a book from the Aftermath Series. It has two strong female leads that are much better characters. The books are just overall more enjoyable too. Inferno Squad is great to if you just want a one off. Again, it has some good female leads, better character development, better story. Thrawn is also a good choice. The female character is a secondary but still very interesting, and it's a Zhan book, and he's one of the defining writers of the Star Wars Trilogy. if you want a really good female character read the Thrawn Trilogy to get a look at Mara Jade. The Bounty Hunter Saga is also good and you can get through it quickly. Overall, I found this book worth reading as a super fan who prides himself on his knowledge of the lore, but not worth buying. If you're just getting into the expanded universe it's a good entry novel. Though I would still recommend Inferno Squad over this.

11 people found this helpful

Under Developed

This is my least favorite of the new Canon books. It's as if they had 2 different story ideas and tried to merge them with minimal success. Also very predictable. Can't recommend.

11 people found this helpful

Felt it was long and drawn out almost repetitive.

You learn about Phasma's background but is this the best they could come up? It is the least Star Wars book I've ever read about Star Wars. I kept waiting for it to get better but it never did .

11 people found this helpful

I just don't buy it.

Title - I don't buy it.

As with all the hype before TFA, I was looking forward to getting an interesting back story on the undeniably flashy (and tacky) new villain, but just like the TFA, this novel was a big let down in my opinion.

Sure, all the plot pieces are there to explain how and why she's so revered within the First Order, but they're just there, and nothing more.

The problem with all of these "Journey to _____“ new canon novels is that they're being packaged along with the new Disney films, and as a result churned out through a development process inferior to a novel unattached to a huge marketing campaign. (Darth Plagueis, Darth Bane Trilogy, Tarkin)

I can say hands down that this is the most predictable Star Wars novel I've read, and I've read them all. From start to finish its almost painfully easy to discern who's going to betray who, who's going to be sacrificed, and where its all going to end up during Phasma's transformation (which turns out to not be much of a transformation at all, outside of a stormtrooper outfit)

What's even more transparent is the continuing "push" for more and more "strong" (i.e traditionally masculine) female characters in Star Wars, something that real fans know was never missing from the EU. (Mara Jade, Admiral Isaard, Padme Amidaala, Darth Zannah, Princess Leia etc etc). So in addition to painfully simplistic plots, we get flat and one dimensional, non-sensical, and completely unrelatable female protagonists/antagonist like Nora Wexley (GA Sloan, and Arinda Price are waaaay more interesting than Nora), Captain Phasma, and Ray (the strongest Jedi ever without any training)....and always at the expense of laughably disposable male characters (Jom Borrell, Finn, every male in Phasmas clan)

Phasma herself turns out to be nothing more than a lying, murdering, backstabbing savage, whom I would thoroughly enjoy seeing brutalize and vanquish her enemies...except that she seems to have no greater purpose or goal except "survival". She has no love interest, and seemingly no emotions except for her inexplicable rage (not directed at anyone in particular since she murders the only people she ever knew, and doesn't even know how to read)

The Feminist agenda is further highlighted by the plight of Phasma's obsolete male successor, " Captain Cardinal" (a red stormtrooper), the perfect soldier who uncharacteristically breaks the rules to investigate Phasmas's past, only to literally lay down in the final showdown. Really?

Lets not forget feeble old Brendle Hux...a man ingenious enough to be trusted with the allocation and development of the human resources needed to build the First Order (namely orphaned children), but foolish enough to cast aside his most decorated soldier and trusted guard...for a crazy woman he just met, and witnessed betray and murder everyone she knows. Really?

Even the setting in "Phasma" is lazy, 42 untitled chapters get you one planet, and one star destroyer...the ENTIRE plot takes place in two places, and the final showdown between protagonist/antagonist neatly comes together because of "an assembly" of high ranking officers (don't they facetime with hologram projectors?).

The writing itself is mediocre, its certainly vivid enough at critical points, but not very Star Wars specific, and generic enough for just about any adventure/action novel. (The characters travel in "GAV's" for half of the book..."GAV"s...you can google that). I noticed the author resorts to the adjective "clipped" at least 100 times during dialogue between characters....yawn.

No meticulous and methodical Sith, no cold and calculating bounty hunters, no conflicted Jedi, not even a competent and fiercly loyal Thrawn/Tarkin type here, no twist at the end...nothing.

"Phasma" should have been left a comic book.

I could go on and on here, but I'd be making more of an effort than the author did to meet her 90 day deadline.

Once again pleasantly narrarated by January Lavoy...but thats the best part.

Otherwise...

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8 people found this helpful

If you like Lord of the Flies.....

I didn't care for this Story as a Star Wars Story. The story overall is good but in universe, it fails miserably. It provides you with the knowledge that Phasma is a ruthless and loyal only to herself but doesn't add more than that. There are many other books that your time would Better spent on. If you liked Lord of the Flies this is for you; If you like Star Wars look elsewhere.

8 people found this helpful

Worst star wars novel on audible.

Boring story, unlikable characters. The performance was fine when the narrator is her own voice. Any characters voices she performed were annoying and grating with little to differenterate between them.

8 people found this helpful

Character Development For Phasma!

After writing the Star Wars short story, The Perfect Weapon, Delilah S. Dawson returns to a galaxy far, far away with the full-length novel, Phasma. I’m a fan of Dawson’s work, and it’s great fun seeing her playing around in one of my favorite cinematic universes and helping to build and expand upon the new canon of expanded universe tie-ins centering around the trilogy of Star Wars films.

After being captured and taken aboard an Imperial ship, Resistance fighter Vi Moradi engages in a battle of wits with a crimson-clad Stormtrooper named Cardinal. He wants information on Captain Phasma, which Moradi possesses, and as the interrogation unfolds she shares with him the true story of Phasma – who she is, where she’s from, and the lengths she will go to in order to survive.

Dawson does a superb job painting a vivid portrait of Phasma, giving this character an engaging history and motivation. While the filmic depiction of Phasma in The Force Awakens was fairly forgettable, her novelized origin story is far from it. Dawson takes us around the apocalyptic world of Parnassos and the Scyre clan Phasma has sworn allegiance to. What emerges from this, in the wake of a crashed Imperial ship and the rescue of its crew by Phasma and her fighters, is a story of survival in a harsh desert world where life is short and brutal, and survival and murder often go hand in hand. Dawson puts a decidedly Mad Max-style spin on her Star Wars story here, and it’s a welcome change of pace.

My only wish/hope is that we get to see more of Vi Moradi in the future. Although Moradi is our gateway into Phasma’s history, there’s not a lot of room for her to shine elsewhere with so much of the narrative space occupying a time ten years in the past. Phasma becomes wonderfully fleshed out and whole, and is certainly a more engaging character here than in her (thus far) single movie appearance, but I really wanted to learn more about Moradi as the book wore on. She’s an engaging Resistance fighter and Dawson does such a good job writing Moradi and her repartee with Cardinal that it’s impossible not to want more of her, or for her to be the singular narrative focus.

On the narration front, January LaVoy does a terrific job bringing Phasma, both the book and the character, to life. This was my first time listening to LaVoy’s work and I was suitably impressed. She keeps the pace moving nicely and adopts an array of inflections to separate character’s dialogue. As is typical of other Star Wars audiobook productions, the narration is accompanied by a host of sound effects and music, helping to amplify the urgency of the narration or underscore the more emotionally resonant beats. The various audio elements work together to create a highly polished and well-produced audiobook, and one that fits firmly within the stylistic realm of the Star Wars universe.

7 people found this helpful

This story was just "Meh!"

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The entire thing. It was supposed to bring Phasma out of the shadows and make her important. But honestly its just a bit of a stretch. The story wants to make us see Phasma as a kickbutt warrior who will do anything to survive. But yet thanks to TFA this book does not make me see the character in a different light. If she was this great warrior, why did she give up to an old man and his dog and a snot nosed punk. TFA makes her seem weak. This book try's to fix it but it falls flat.

What could Delilah S. Dawson have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Its not the fault of the author. I just feel that this book should have been released two years ago during the Journey to the Force Awakes instead of now.

Would you listen to another book narrated by January LaVoy?

Yes. Shes a good narrator and I liked her take on Leia in New Republic.

Could you see Phasma: Star Wars being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

No and if you where going to you have to use Gwendoline Christie as Phasma.

Any additional comments?

It could have been better. Was looking for a story on Phasma that actually was being told from her perspective and not from a recounting.

7 people found this helpful

Amusing end not nearly as good as Tarkin or Thrawn

Too simple and lineair a story for my taste, though it does build the character.

7 people found this helpful