Note: While the below text represents a brief review of this specific Star Wars: Galaxy of Fear entry, a greater retrospective on the entire series, complete with images and footnotes, can be found here on my site, dendrobibliography.

Whitman hits a high note with the Nightmare Room, the fourth entry in the Star Wars: Galaxy of Fear series for young adults. After the near-death experience Tash, Zak, Uncle Hoole, and Deevee all faced in Planet Plague, Uncle Hoole takes his family on vacation to a space station disguised as a theme park.

Hologram Fun World is a blandly-named theme park built around holograms and deception. Rancors prowl the streets, scaring the park's guests; rollercoaster rides are disguised as giant sea serpents; model galaxies spiral before our eyes; and one new ride preys on the distress of those who enter, conjuring each guest's worst fears in...the Nightmare Room. The shared theme between all their rides and exhibits is a pervasive use of holograms. Nothing's ever as it seems in Hologram Fun World, including the unusual definition of 'fun.'

The Nightmare Room is still under construction, set to be the park's newest and most-advanced ride. Sneaking into the construction area, Tash and Zak find themselves in a loop of overlapping nightmares, sometimes unique, sometimes shared. The Nightmare Room is broken, with some serious kinks to work out in how it scans the guests, not allowing them to leave. The only constants are the friendships of Deevee and, always just out of sight, a slithering monster with long, sucking stalks.

If it sounds familiar to some, it should. It's been done by shows like the Twilight Zone, the X-Files, and even Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Still, the plot -- however lazy the theme park's set-up and name -- works really well with the Star Wars universe and with Galaxy of Fear's cast. The layers of deception expand far beyond the Nightmare Room's secrets and into the players of the park itself, tying into the overarching Project Starscream plot from the three preceding novellas. Lando Calrissian also makes an appearance before his Empire Strikes Back role, offering glimpses of personality and guidance to Tash and Zak.

John Whitman's Star Wars: Galaxy of Fear (1997–1998):
#3 Planet Plague | #5 Ghost of the Jedi ( )

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