A Life at War: Twilight (A Star Wars story)

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

He [Thraken Dericote] was never really a normal child. He learned to read quite quickly but didn't speak full sentences until age three.-Naomi Dericote, Mother, First Secretary to the Ministerial Office of Fondor. A self-insert into a Republic Navy Officer with historical and bits of cultural knowledge from our world and how he lives in the Star Wars universe without any future knowledge. Watch how he navigates office politics within the Republic Navy while fighting for his ideals alongside friends and foes alike. The full story (in all its parts) starts just before the Clone Wars and should go all the way to about 10 ABY. I'd suggest reading the tags for a better idea of what to expect. Originally posted on AO3 and now up to date on both platforms. Updates weekly on Fridays around 5pm EST.

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2025
Author: crusaderIguess

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.5/ 5.0
Followers: 492
Views: 257,370

Chapters(180 total)

What readers say about A Life at War: Twilight (A Star Wars story)

“A Life At War is an absolutely amazing story! Watching the the main character, Thraken Dericote, grow throughout his life, from his early days all the way to the present, has been a great trip! Seeing him progress through his military career in the Republic…”
SomeBodyElseRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“To preface this review, I have read further into the story on AO3. The most brilliant and defining choice of this story is its protagonist, Thraken Dericote. The reincarnation trope is common, but it is almost always paired with exhaustive future knowledge,…”
CyberSorceressRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

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Community Reviews(7)

SomeBodyElseRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
A Life At War is an absolutely amazing story! Watching the the main character, Thraken Dericote, grow throughout his life, from his early days all the way to the present, has been a great trip! Seeing him progress through his military career in the Republic, navigating through dangerous naval battles and political intrigue alike, caught my attention and held it in a vice grip. Meeting new character and getting attached to them, seeing how them and Thraken himself grows and changes over the course of the story, was great fun to read!
I would say, however, that the early chapters, specifically the ones before the Clone Wars really starts, feel a bit rushed. And like some have said before, the early naval battles can feel a bit... simple.
But overall, if you like Star Wars, or even just like war/political stories, I would highly recommend you give this story a shot!
CyberSorceressRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
To preface this review, I have read further into the story on AO3.
The most brilliant and defining choice of this story is its protagonist, Thraken Dericote. The reincarnation trope is common, but it is almost always paired with exhaustive future knowledge, allowing the protagonist to become a puppet master manipulating events. Thraken has no such advantage.
He doesn't know who Palpatine is. He doesn't know about Order 66. He doesn't know that the Empire is coming, and I love that. He isn't gaining his successes by knowing what will happen & changing them.
But, my favorite part, is that it isn't using Jedi and a single hero winning battles. In fact, Jedi aren't really seen in the story so far - with a few exceptions. Instead, it's more so the logistics, economics, and grand strategy of galactic conflict, specifically where Thraken is stationed.
The depiction of the Republic Navy is incredible. It’s portrayed not as a sleek, heroic institution, but as a decaying, politically bloated bureaucracy, filled with cliques that you need to be part of to get the resources you need. Focused around specific officers and different ideologies for the Navy. Thraken is not just fighting the CIS, he's forced into using politics and allying with a more powerful officer to get what he needs, to participate in politics with senators & officers.
JacksaunRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story is a solid example of a good fanfic, it’s not some master piece and it’s not trying to be - it’s a story following a semi-insert (has some knowledge of Earth/SW but super vague and not really impacting the story) who joins the Navy as an officer present during the start of the clone wars and a bit after - this story has a very heavy focus on space battles, specifically leading them so if you like that you’ll love this story and if not - there’s other themes but it’s probably not enough for you. I highly recommend for any who enjoy a good Star Wars fanfic with a focus on space warfare
the space dogRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I read the story on ao3 and am reading their edited version here on royal road.
There are few stories that scratch that particular naval strategy itch as this does. This book is well written and has no major flaws. If you like the Thrawn trilogy, naval science fiction, or just want to see a good depiction of a slightly alternate clone wars than this is a story for you. You do not have to like star wars to like this and lore knowledge is not essential to understanding this story though it does give further context.
SoldiergeneralRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I have to say it's rare for me to enjoy combat in any story I am reading particularly space combat. Typically I just read through it as part of the rest of the plot. Exceptions are when the author does a good job of creating characters or and written well enough for me to understand overall what is going on. I recommend this story for those reasons along with how nice and also frustrating it is to have a flawed main character yet still doing a good job despite that.
MythicalKeyboardSmithingLvl1Royal Road
★★ 1.5
Not the best Star Wars SI I’ve read.
solidly in the middle I guess
the author has 170ish chapters out on two sites, yet no one so far has managed to clue him in on the following:
it’s spelled debt, not dept.
it’s spelled lose, not loose.
its spelled both, not booth.
Some of these words will show up at a rate of almost once per chapter. I don’t understand how you can research and write this many chapters and miss these simple spelling mistakes.
im more lenient on when its spelled “bear” instead of “bare” or “route” instead of “rout” but the other words are used incorrectly so frequently it almost makes me think it’s done on purpose.
for a Star Wars SI, the “I have earth memories” part has almost zero relevance on the plot. It only lets the mc use a German curse word alongside other curse words, and reference one or two earth history military points, but the earth knowledge has at most 0.01% impact on anything plot or tactics wise.
additionally, the space warfare is so boring. It’s literally just the Mc and a bridge officer talking to each other over and over, followed by shouting “fire at will!” There could be much better exposition and description of the space battles to make them less bland.
160th SOARRoyal Road
★ 1.0
For a fanfic that was centered around the Star Wars Navy you would think that the space battles will be good since other things are just an afterthought in a summary form.
But no, just like MythicalKeyboardSmithingLvl1 said, the space battles are so boring... "It’s literally just the Mc and a bridge officer talking to each other over and over, followed by shouting “fire at will!” There could be much better exposition and description of the space battles to make them less bland. "
You don't even know where the others are in space in relations to the MC's ship. It's not like the Star Wars' universe fully uses the 3 dimensions of Space for their large ships battles, only the star fighters do.