Star Wars: Sanctuary

I have always appeciated the rich tapestry that the extended Star Wars Universe has given the reader. Whilst the films are few and far between, and the TV shows more abundant but still limited, it is the books that allow fans to deep dive into characters and places that may not get as much love on the screen. The Bad Bunch are much loved and have some of the most entertaining adventures across the IP. They deserve their own book to allow us to see what makes the likes of Hunter tick, and Lamar Giles agrees with their new book Star Wars: Sanctuary – a Bad Bunch Novel. A story that captures the high action and camaraderie of one of the most chaotic corners of the Star Wars Universe. 

The Bad Bunch have become involved in a high stakes heist to steal millions of credits from the criminal underworld at an illegal auction. All they must do is follow the plan and nothing will go wrong, but this is the Bad Bunch and plan B is always needed. This means going loud and getting out. On the run, they pick up a second job to escort a mysterious woman and her companion to a neutral world. More than one can of worms has been opened with the heist and the passenger, suddenly The Bad Bunch find themselves hunted by both the criminal underworld and the Empire's secret police. 

There is a kinetic energy to The Bad Bunch that comes from their origins as an animation that catered for a younger audience. Giles' task is to harness this energy, whilst still writing a book for the older fan – even most of the original cartoon fans would have grown up enough to read this book. The great news is that Giles achieves this, there are characters such as Tech, Wrecker and Omega that fans will recognise and they feel and sound like they are from the show. 

One of the advantages that prose has over TV is that you can glimpse into the thought process of the characters even more and here Giles pushes the characters even further than many of the TV episodes. There is a complex relationship between these genetically adapted clones, some have left and they are growing apart. Hunter may seem the most stoic, but we see that he is also the most afraid of change. Sanctuary has a series of side narratives that explore how the characters are developing internally. 

I say these are side stories, as the main action is a duo of stonking Bad Bunch like adventures that end up with them being chased by both a psychopathic criminal boss and an ISB Agent who is not much more grounded. The pair of antagonists form an unlikely alliance that leads to lots of action and intrigue. 

In some ways the ephemeral characters in Sanctuary, as given the most development. This is due to restrictions in the wider lore that Giles would not be allowed to play with. The areas that are the author’s own sandpit can be played with at will. Here you see that Giles is a true Star Wars fan, creating places and characters that fit seamlessly into the world. My only misgiving is that they are too ephemeral, they deserved to appear in more of the books, but at least in one case, you get a cool cameo to finish the job. 

Sanctuary is a book that is a joy to read. It captures the characters from the show, but also a sense of the wider Star Wars Universe. You get a sense of the characters stepping from their contained TV adventures into a new series in book form. Given license, I would think that Hunter, Wrecker, Tech, Omega, and any other former members of Clone Force 99 who wish to return, are perfect protagonists to launch a series of entertaining action Star Wars novels that play in the Universe without impacting on the core Skywalker tale.