I had high hopes for this book and it didn't disappoint but it also didn't live up to expectations either.

Spoiler

It was definitively gross in the typical horror sense of creepy rooms that had body parts hanging from the ceiling and a detailed description of having to open a character's stomach up to get the infection out. But when Han and Chewie showed up that was when my disappointment began. I was excited to meet new characters that were not at all connected to any of the original cast. So when our favorite smugglers showed up you immediately know that they would survive to the end since this book takes place right before A New Hope.

Jereth Sartoris was a character that you instantly don't like and I wish that he had more time to be fully developed instead of disappearing on the last remaining escape pod only to show up for a few chapters at the end of the book. He got a little bit of backstory on his childhood and abusive father but nothing more on his past deeds that the warden had mentioned before he died. What other crimes did he commit? And why did he kill Von Longo? I guess we will never know.

The medical aspect of this book was a saving grace by getting to see an overwhelmed doctor try and figure out what this virus was and try and save her already doomed patients. But the fact that the virus had a very confusing explanation and an ending as to why the virus couldn't last beyond the star destroyer seemed too neat and tidy with barely any thought put into it.

All in all, I don't regret reading this but I am hoping that by reading Red Harvest next which is a companion to this book that it will answer some of the questions that I still have.