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jaredkwheeler 's review for:
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire - Evolution
by Steve Perry
Star Wars Legends Project #307
Background: Shadows of the Empire: Evolution, released in February 2000, collects issues #1-5 originally published Feb-June 1998. The series was written by [a:Steve Perry|6262|Steve Perry|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1463048818p2/6262.jpg] and drawn by [a:Ron Randall|94372|Ron Randall|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]. Perry, of course, is the author of the original Shadows of the Empire novel, along with a few others, but this is Randall's only Star Wars credit.
Shadows of the Empire: Evolution takes place during the months following Return of the Jedi, about 4.5 years after the Battle of Yavin (and a year or so after the events of Shadows of the Empire). The main character is Guri. Most of the cast of Shadows of the Empire appear at some point in flashbacks, and there are major in-story roles for Luke, Han, and Leia. Most of the story takes place on Coruscant, Hurd's Moon, and Murninkam.
Summary: Guri, a state-of-the-art Human Replica Droid, and once the highly-skilled personal assassin to Prince Xizor, the feared and ruthless leader of Black Sun, doesn't know quite what to do with herself in the wake of Xizor's death. She only knows she doesn't want it to be anything like what she did before. Hoping to purge her memory and her skillset of everything that makes her such an effective killer, she begins a search for the brilliant inventor who created her. But her search brings with it a lot of unwanted attention. In the right hands (or the very, very wrong ones), Guri is one of the most valuable assets in the galaxy, and a lot of beings will stop at nothing to pull her right back in just as she thinks she's gotten out.
Review: I wasn't sure what to expect from this story, but it wasn't anything particularly good. I like Shadows of the Empire, but it didn't exactly demand a sequel, least of all one focused on this particular character, who was part plot-device and (seemingly) part self-indulgent author fantasy. Realizing a sequel within the more visual medium seemed like a recipe for making the latter problem worse, not better . . . but my fears on that score were largely unfounded.
Evolution manages to generate a pretty fun little rogues gallery of characters to backstab and clamber over each other in pursuit of Guri, who could have just ended up feeling like a MacGuffin amidst all of the action that surrounds her. Instead, her quest for self-actualization feels meaningful and gave the story a dramatic and emotional weight that is often lacking in these tales of bounty hunters and other underworld types murdering their way across the galaxy in pursuit of the same goal.
The result is no masterpiece, but it's enjoyable and it does its job well. It's definitely worth checking out.
B+
Background: Shadows of the Empire: Evolution, released in February 2000, collects issues #1-5 originally published Feb-June 1998. The series was written by [a:Steve Perry|6262|Steve Perry|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1463048818p2/6262.jpg] and drawn by [a:Ron Randall|94372|Ron Randall|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]. Perry, of course, is the author of the original Shadows of the Empire novel, along with a few others, but this is Randall's only Star Wars credit.
Shadows of the Empire: Evolution takes place during the months following Return of the Jedi, about 4.5 years after the Battle of Yavin (and a year or so after the events of Shadows of the Empire). The main character is Guri. Most of the cast of Shadows of the Empire appear at some point in flashbacks, and there are major in-story roles for Luke, Han, and Leia. Most of the story takes place on Coruscant, Hurd's Moon, and Murninkam.
Summary: Guri, a state-of-the-art Human Replica Droid, and once the highly-skilled personal assassin to Prince Xizor, the feared and ruthless leader of Black Sun, doesn't know quite what to do with herself in the wake of Xizor's death. She only knows she doesn't want it to be anything like what she did before. Hoping to purge her memory and her skillset of everything that makes her such an effective killer, she begins a search for the brilliant inventor who created her. But her search brings with it a lot of unwanted attention. In the right hands (or the very, very wrong ones), Guri is one of the most valuable assets in the galaxy, and a lot of beings will stop at nothing to pull her right back in just as she thinks she's gotten out.
Review: I wasn't sure what to expect from this story, but it wasn't anything particularly good. I like Shadows of the Empire, but it didn't exactly demand a sequel, least of all one focused on this particular character, who was part plot-device and (seemingly) part self-indulgent author fantasy. Realizing a sequel within the more visual medium seemed like a recipe for making the latter problem worse, not better . . . but my fears on that score were largely unfounded.
Evolution manages to generate a pretty fun little rogues gallery of characters to backstab and clamber over each other in pursuit of Guri, who could have just ended up feeling like a MacGuffin amidst all of the action that surrounds her. Instead, her quest for self-actualization feels meaningful and gave the story a dramatic and emotional weight that is often lacking in these tales of bounty hunters and other underworld types murdering their way across the galaxy in pursuit of the same goal.
The result is no masterpiece, but it's enjoyable and it does its job well. It's definitely worth checking out.
B+