Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II (novelization)

Having played Star Wars: The Force Unleashed I was excited that there was a second one coming. The first game's storyline had a very subtle romance and lots of action. Especially the action! You had to go against machines, rancors, and some pretty decent bosses. I knew there was a novelization but, long story short, I had to return it to the library before I was finished. I knew there would be a novelization of the second game and eagerly picked it up at a library.

Title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II

Based On a Story by Haden Blackman

Author: Sean Williams

Released: 2010

Rating: 3.5/5

Basic Plot: Starkiller (a clone?) escapes from the cloning facility at Kamino and goes on a search for Juno Eclipse.

Genre: Romance
This book is a complete romance. I don't mind a little romance in my books/movies/ect. but the romance in this book becomes out of control. I think what made this romance so unbearable is that I wasn't playing a game so I didn't have the joy of actually fighting the enemies in this book. Don't like romance? Don't get this book. Oh, so you're a Star Wars fan? You're sort of doomed to read this book and play the game.

Characters

Starkiller
Throughout the book it is not made clear if this Starkiller is a clone or not. My personal opinion? I think he is. But, by the end, it doesn't really matter one way or the other if he is or is not the "real" Starkiller. His main drive in this book is to find Juno Eclipse (romantic interest in the first game) and is really the only reason for he does anything. Romantic junkies will love that part. Not saying I couldn't see this coming when I heard about a second The Force Unleashed game.

Juno Eclipse
The love interest of Starkiller and is now a member of the Rebel Alliance. Luckily she doesn't know that Starkiller is alive so we don't have her main drive being to search for Starkiller. Unfortunately she is still not over his death a year later so she still thinks about him.

Useless Subplots

PROXY Messing Up
PROXY (Starkiller's robot from the first game) has his holoprojectors keep messing up. What does this mean? Basically he takes on the forms of different people. There is a small subplot where the reader/player is made to wonder why this is happening. At the end of the book it's revealed that he is "becoming" people that stand for something greater than themselves. Really? The book wasted all of my time for that?

Love Triangle
What would a good romance be without someone getting in the way? Let's just call him Pointless Distraction (PD). Anyways, PD is only there for a few scenes before going away. They didn't even use PD to his full potential in a romance. Which is probably a good thing.

Final Thoughts
This is a great book if you're looking for a romance. However, it does not measure up to the plot given by the first game. The romance in the first game was cliche but it was not all in your face. This plot just wails away at you with romance. Does it make me want to buy the game? Some of the action sequences seem fun to actually play. I can only rate this as a book, though, so the fun of playing it does not go into account.