A review by piratesprogress
Shadow of the Sith by Adam Christopher

medium-paced

4.0

Shadow of the Sith is one of the Star Wars canon novels I've most looked forward to getting into - with the difficult task as it does of smoothing the rough edges of set-up hinted at during The Rise of Skywalker. 

Luke Skywalker is haunted by visions of Exegol, the hidden world of the Sith; Lando Calrissian, wracked by the kidnapping of his daughter years prior, is on the trail of a young family hunted by agents of the Sith Eternal. Together, the old friends will come face to face with the vastness of a galaxy which can never be fully known, their place within it, and cross paths with a young girl who will grow up to carry the Jedi Master's legacy into the future.

Christopher acquits himself well with a big task, coralling the disparate pieces of plot from a mess of a film into a pacey thriller that explores Lando's grief and sense of emptiness when the war you were a hero of is over, and the the people who matter most are taken from you; and gives greater depth to Luke's state of mind, and the mistakes he will inevitably make, as the timeline barrels towards conflict with the First Order. While it can never quite iron out the issues with Abrams's ham fisted plot decisions, it's a really decent attempt that gives more flair and flavour to an as yet vague part of the canon.