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Review by Bones, UK, 2010:
"The concept of a Star Wars horror novel was, quite frankly, intriguing. The front cover accentuated any curiosity, although I remained sceptical as to whether or not it would actually be scary. After reading the blurb, my cynicism grew: this is a book about zombies, something that has been pretty much used, abused, cast aside, reinvented and generally trampled into the ground by Hollywood et al.
"It was too my great delight, then, that I did indeed find my pulse quickening through certain parts of the story. Not perhaps in the same way as, say, watching Alien for the first time, but definite physiological responses. It was quite gripping in place, considering the story was, on the whole, formulaic. After all, with a group of survivor's alone and cut off from civilisation, you can predict before reading that there will be a body count. It's all about which of them will survive and how the others will die. In this regard (no spoilers here) I was satisfied with much of this aspect of the story. I also particularly liked the introduction of unexpected characters.
"The book itself was relatively short, but I doubt anything else could have been done with the story to elongated it without compromising the atmosphere that was being created. But the main gripe I had was that it didn't really feel like a Star Wars book. I suspect that was why the unexpected characters turned up - to root the story in the EU. But most of the way through, perhaps, the first half of the book, it felt like any other sci-fi horror book: bleak, grey and industrial. Whilst it probably doesn't detract from the story itself, I did find it difficult to integrate this into the Star Wars universe.
"In spite of that, I enjoyed this book and look forward to Schreiber's next offering in the EU."
Rating: 3.5 / 5

Review by Pedro, England, 2010:
"The concept of the virus was good but it seemed like a typical zombie story. I liked how it was different to zombie stories in that it was a virus created by the Empire and that they learned from things, they weren't typical mindless zombies wondering around. The fact that the Empire created the virus was interesting, it showed just how evil it was and how low it would stoop to achieve things.
"I didn't actually find it that scary, and I think that Joe tried to make it graphic to make is more scary. Sometimes, I think that making something graphic makes it less scary.
"I suppose adding in Han and Chewie helped the readers latch onto something familiar, but i think that the book didn't need them really.
"The book could have been made longer, by extending the end, I felt it was to abrupt, and by making more of the virus.
"So much hype surrounded it before it was released because it was the first horror Star Wars novel, but I think it could have been done a lot better, perhaps by a different author."
Rating: 3 / 5

Review by Jay, USA, 2009:
"Book started out slightly slow but it builds up steam as it goes and adds a few surprises as you read it. I thought it stayed true to the Star Wars universe."
Rating: 4 / 5