The
MedStar duology by Michael Reaves and
Steve Perry are a pair of
Star Wars Legends Clone Wars books (with a tie-in story in one
Star Wars Insider issue) that combine a
Medical Drama and intrigue by taking place at a Republic hospital space station hovering near a battlefield-plagued world. A Black Sun theft ring,
Blood Knight turned undeserving
Propaganda Hero, and Separatist spy haunt the outpost. The main protagonists are surgeon Jos Vander (who is in love with a nurse but knows the xenophobia of his homeworld means
You Can't Go Home Again if their relationship progresses), Barriss Offee (the sole Jedi healer at the station, who struggles with feelings of anger that could lead her to the dark side), and
Intrepid Reporter Den Dhur. Despite being part of
Legends, the book seems to retroactively be set in a different continuity than the "official" Legends books due to
strongly contradicting The Clone Wars take on Barriss as a fallen Jedi and terrorist.Tropes:
- Anyone Can Die: Jos's best friend Zan, Admiral Bleyd, Corrupt Quartermaster Filba, Klo Merit The Mole, a clone patient who gives Jos a Jerkass Realization but dies in a later battle, a friendly droid bartender, and Blood Knight Phow Ji all die across the series.
- Badass Normal: This is a rare story where the Jedi protagonist rarely engages in combat and the most intense fighting (or recollections of past fights) concern non-Force users.
- Admiral Tarnese Bleyd is willing to engage in Hunting the Most Dangerous Game, the more dangerous the better, and once took down a rancor with a bow.
- Unarmed combat instructor Phow Ji is an Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy who has beaten multiple Jedi in unarmed combat (albeit while they aren't using the Force), regularly beats enemy soldiers to death, and can unleash a series of powerful blows in seconds. Even Bleyd is nervous about the idea of fighting him.
- Dramatic Irony:
- Only the audience (or at least anyone who's read Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter before hitting this duology) knows the truth about I-5's wiped memories and what happened to Lorn Pavarn.
- The Separatist spy's hatred of the Republic and determination to bring them down is driven by how his homeworld was destroyed and his species left facing likely extinction after a solar flare caused by a Republic weapons test. It is implied that the test was related to the Death Star, and the spy (therapist Klo Merit) doesn't realize that helping the Separatist plays into the hands of the same shot-callers he hates.
- Early-Bird Cameo: The Venator-class Star Destroyers, which make their debut here prior to their appearance in Revenge of the Sith.
- Intrepid Reporter: Den Dhur.
- The Last Dance: After Phow Ji's life is saved by someone he hates, and in a manner that demolishes his Flat-Earth Atheist view of the Jedi and his superiority over them, he goes on a Suicide Mission into Separatist territory, killing many elite opponents with an impressive array of moves and then revealing that he is holding a live grenade after his enemies finally mortally wound him and approach him. He also has a camera droid nearby to record the whole thing and cement his legendary status.
- Recycled In Space: The story is very much a science fiction version of M*A*S*H, with War Is Hell operating scenes, card-playing doctors, a mobile hospital (a space station in this case), bureaucrats and media officials back home viewing the war differently than the staff, and a pair of visiting entertainers being Expys of Bob Hope and Martha Raye, two USO entertainers from The Korean War.
- Sequel Hook: I-5's hunt for Jax Pavaran will continue into the Coruscant Nights Trilogy.
