"Stand back. Let's see if it will stop a lightsaber."Han Solo is locked in carbonite, in the possession of Boba Fett. Luke, Lando, Leia, and Chewie are desperately searching for the bounty hunter, in the hopes of rescuing Han. Meanwhile, Prince Xizor of the Black Sun is angling to destroy his rival and destroyer of his family, Darth Vader.NOTE: Based on the audiobook and what I remember of the novel I read years ago.I Liked:Steve Perry is given a difficult task: bridge the gap between The Empire Strikes Backand Return of the Jedi. This is difficult because he has to write an interesting book, yet keep continuity. Most authors just have to write a plausible future Luke, Leia, and Han; this job is far more difficult. And for the most part, Perry does an impressive job.The characters were fairly strong, namely Luke and Leia. I liked how Perry lead Luke into being the sedate Jedi we see in Return of the Jedi, making him grow from the brash apprentice in Empire Strikes Back. One moment I particularly was fond of was Luke returning to Obi-Wan's hovel to build his lightsaber. I loved this little bit of continuity. Leia was also well done, conflicted about her feelings to Han, wondering how he felt, nervous, yet still strong even in the face of Prince Xizor's advances (which were fine to me as he was using pheromones on her--in fact, I thought it made her look stronger to be able to withstand his biological advances).As for our bad guys, we rarely get to see Darth Vader in the helmet, and at the time, this novel was novel (har har) in that we got a Vader point of view. Since most Bantam books were strictly post-Jedi, Vader got omitted completely, which was a shame, as he was such an interesting character. Here, I enjoyed how Perry had Vader try to use the Dark Side to heal himself, but always fail, as his joy for being healed won out.Lastly, I oddly liked how it was unclear whether or not Prince Xizor died (at least, that's the way I heard it).I Didn't Like:The first thing I didn't like was how much Dash Rendar was like Han Solo. Now, I've heard that the character was created for the game, so maybe Perry had very little choice in how Dash was supposed to be. Okay, I understand that. But still, couldn't Perry have tried a wee bit harder to make Dash unique and not so much like Han? I couldn't help but wince when I read him in a scene.Xizor is often uplifted as this really great villain, and I am just unsure why. Sure, he plots and schemes in this book, but, partly because he is doomed to fail, nothing happens of it. All he does is exercise, change clothes, and seduce women. I wish Perry had allowed Xizor some way of winning something, just so I could be assured he was a real threat, instead of a dandified playboy. And I almost didn't even want to start reading the novel when Xizor miraculously knows that Vader is Anakin Skywalker. No one knows that! How does he?Another problem I have is how this book feels like filler. Other than a few nice tie-ins (Leia getting the Boushh costume, the thermal detonator, Luke's lightsaber, the Bothan spies), the whole book is just filler. We all know the outcome, there is little suspense, there is little to engage us. It doesn't help when circumstances keep repeating themselves (Leia gets kidnapped to lure Luke to Coruscant, like done in Empire, Dash Rendar returns to help like Han returned to help Luke in A New Hope, Luke and Lando hide in a surprisingly dense asteroid field, and so on).My last complaint is about Perry's writing style. I found it quite juvenile, filled with simple, embarrassing sentences. Here is one such example:[Luke:] "Stand back. Let's see if it will stop a lightsaber."The door would not stop a lightsaber. They went through and continued to climb.Not only does the above excerpt contain an unnecessary and embarrassing line of dialogue made of pure cheese, the narration is boring, uninspired, and uninteresting. I have no idea how Luke sliced the door, where, if he cut a chunk or the whole thing off, if there were people right behind him or anything. In fact, all this scene does is give us filler, more padding to drag out the big escape.Dialogue/Sexual Situation/Violence:Light to none spattering of mild profanity.Prince Xizor fancies himself a player and makes the moves on Leia.We have space battles, attempted murders, lightsaber battles, rescues, kidnappings, etc.Overall:One of the better Star Wars novels out there, Shadows of the Empire is entertaining but not hugely memorable. Not a bad book to put on your reading list, but I wouldn't rush out to read it anytime soon.
Shadows of the Empire tells the story between episodes V and VI. It follows the adventures of Lando, Chewie, Leia, Luke, and a character who first appears in this book- Dash Rendar. Much of the story focuses on a battle of wits and espionage between Darth Vader and Prince Xizor (head of the crime syndicate Black Sun). Shadows of the Empire gives much depth to Xizor's character. Many paragraph breaks within chapters make the pace seem faster and allow Perry to switch the perspective between several characters throughout a single chapter. The beginning pacing is a bit slow but is a fast read towards the later half of the book. This book is a must read for anyone interested in Prince Xizor as Perry spends a lot of time from Xizor's perspective. Perry also spends some time from Vader's perspective and readers get to see him interact with Palpatine. Shadows of the Empire does a good job filling in the story between the movies and gives more depth to Xizor. I would give this book a 3.5 if I could because it was an enjoyable read but not outstanding.
What do You think about Shadows Of The Empire (1997)?
Overall, I would give this book a 3.5. (The book even begins 3.5 ABY) To date, this is the only novel to take place between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.What I like about this novel is that Lando actually gets to interact with Luke and C-3PO. He did not really speak to them in the films. Slowly, he becomes a regular member of the group of main characters between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Given what C-3PO says at the beginning of Return of the Jedi, I was u
—Steven Shinder
Good solid airplane fun reading. The usual Star Wars cliches and weaknesses apply, but what were you expecting from a Star Wars novel, existential philosophy? It's fun seeing Luke, Leia et. al. during their original series prime, and Luke as a Jedi in training is more entertaining than his omnipotent later incarnations. The characters are a bit more vulnerable and human than in other books (this book has more "adult situations" than all the others combined, but that isn't saying much), so it's certainly worthwhile if you're a Star Wars fan.
—Jeffrey
It seems inconceivable I somehow did not read this book back in the late '90s when I was devouring anything "Star Wars". Part of it was the backlash "Shadows" was getting at the time in the genre magazines, especially "Sci-fi Universe", still the best science fiction mag of all time outside of the old "Cinefantastique". And part of it was there was so much Extended Universe stuff hitting the shelves, between the "Heir to Empire" trilogy and "The Jedi Academy" trilogy and the "X-Wing" series and the Dark Horse Comics etc., there was plenty to indulge in and almost all of it was really good material written by top notch scribes.Well now I have read it and can tell you those "Shadows" backlash reviews back in the day were just that, emotional reactions reviewers have when they feel the need to push back on something wildly popular. If you were around in the late '90s and are a "Star Wars" fan you know what I am talking about. Because, bottom line, "Shadows of the Empire" is a glorious novel; a rich, vivid tapestry of riveting drama, political manipulations, and colorful action adventure.Prince Xizor is a fantastic character! The second best Extended Universe character of all time behind Mara Jade. Xizor is Tony Montana, Lex Luthor, Gordon Gekko, Michael Corleone and Al Capone rolled into one with physical (including sexual seduction) abilities that match his cold, calculating, intellect. If ever there was someone who could go up against Darth Vader and Palpatine and make for a worthy opponent, this is the guy. The viewpoints are dead-on, the pacing perfect, and Perry gets all of the familiar characters just right. This book excels at world-building just as much as it does characters. The setting is richly detailed, a vast underworld of the "Star Wars" universe hinted at in the final act of "Empire" and the opening set-piece in "Jedi" and fully explored here in an irresistible fashion by author Steve Perry.At its core, "Shadows of the Empire" is an epic gangster story that makes fantastic use of the most interesting period in all of the "Star Wars", the time between "Empire" and "Jedi". This ranks right up there with my favorite "Star Wars" EU book of all-time, right alongside K.W. Jeter's Boba Fett/Bounty Hunter Trilogy, Timothy Zahn's "Heir to the Empire" trilogy, the "X-Wing" series, and the Dark Horse comic "Dark Empire".Bottom line: "Shadows of the Empire" is pure exhilarating joy for fans of classic "Star Wars".
—James Caterino
